La Croix De Carbonnieux Rouge Pessac - Leognan 2016 (750ml)

Wine is the offspring of a mother, Nature and a father, Man.

Nature, in the form of climate, soil and grape variety gives the wine half its character.

 

Man through his work with the vine and in the cellar gives it the other half.

 

The result is miraculous when Nature and Man give of their very best.

 

La Croix De Carbonnieux Rouge 2016

 

Grand Vin De Graves

 

Pessac – Leognan

 

Appellation Pessac – Leognan Controlee

 

Château Carbonnieux 2nd Label

 

Grape Varieties:  60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot

 

La Croix de Carbonnieux wines are a tribute to the Benedictine monks from the Sainte Croix Abbey in Bordeaux who owned the property in the 13th and 18th centuries.

 

The monks, great wine-makers gave Carbonnieux its international reputation and a push towards modernity.

 

Their emblem, the “S” around the Sainte Croix, punctuates the Château landscape in various places and seals on our bottles the trace of their passing in the long history of the estate.

Crafted from selections of Château Carbonnieux Cru Classé, the red and white wines from La Croix de Carbonnieux are second wines made with all the care devoted to a grand cru.

 

La Croix De Carbonnieux Red has a fine ruby colour and a nose of red fruits with that smoky touch in the wines from Léognan that is so pleasant on the palate.  A little less powerful than Carbonnieux and greatly appreciated in gastronomy it can be drunk young and lends itself to a large choice of wine and food pairings.

 

Tasting Profile

 

Dark berries and licorice with fine tannins and a black pepper finish.

Serving Temperature:  18 – 19°C

Cellaring Advice:  Best enjoyed around 5 years old.

Wine & Food Pairing:  Grilled and roast meat, stew, fowl, swordfish, tuna fish, cheese, chocolate dessert…

 

Terroir / Soil:  Deep hillside gravel and clay-limestone.

 

Winemaking

 

Hand picking - 3 Berry Sorting

 

3-4 weeks in temperature-controlled stainless-steel vats

 

Ageing in oak barrels 12 Months - 30-40 % New Oak

 

A great terroir is a gift of Nature, crafted by the hand of Man.

 

Geology

 

Resulting from a rich geological past, the Garonne or Günzienne gravel outcrop of Château Carbonnieux has been home to vines for over seven centuries.  For over seven centuries the vine has dug its roots and shaped the sub-soil of this domain.

 

A Rich Geological Inheritance

 

At the end of the tertiary and beginning of the quarternary era, in the middle of the Pyrenean uplift, the Garonne river and its tributaries carried along the left bank from the south-east of Langon to Bordeaux large quantities of stony alluvium mixed with sand, silt and clay.  Over geological time these stones known as gravel (graves) were deposited on the river slopes forming several layers of terraces about 15 kilometers wide.  Two types of gravel covered the layers of sedimentary limestone: the Pyrenean sandy clay gravel at the end of the tertiary era and the Günz Garonne gravel of the quaternary era.  The vine growing region south of Bordeaux gets its name from these.

 

A Unique Gravel Outcrop

 

The specific morphology of the outcrop making up the Château Carbonnieux terroir can be explained by the runoff that removed the gravel layer deposited on four faces during the Quaternary era.  A cap of massive gravel, that was relatively unaffected by erosion, today occupies the top of a strongly eroded gravel terrace.  The edge of the Carbonnieux gravel terrace consists of a belt of sandy gravel soils that moved due to the runoff.  Its slope, close to the main drainage axis, consists of a resurgence of the tertiary clay-limestone substratum, sometimes covered by migrant sands.  The south-west of the estate is original in that a tongue of Landes sands blown in by the wind was deposited on the limestone base.  The outcrop and its appendages are drained thanks to many drainage pathways.  This natural drainage of the soil ensures good water stress of the vineyard in the ripening phase.

 

Terroir

 

A High Point Right in the Heart of the Pessac - Leognan Appellation

 

The Chateau Carbonnieux terroir is remarkable for its structure and the diversity of its soils.  This is a fact that has been confirmed following a study of the soils’ resistivity as well as localised soil tests.  As a result a new precise geological map of the entire domain was drawn up.  The variable constitution of the soils of Carbonnieux make it possible to create multiple plots of land, each equally rich and complex.

• clay and gravel
• gravel ( more or less deep, more or less massive)
• clay and limestone
• sand and gravel
• argillaceous vein
• limestone vein At Carbonnieux, each plot has a name which gives it a unique identity and guarantees it special attention and personalised care adapted to suit its particular pedological, agrological and ampelographic characteristics.

 

A Red and White Cru Classé Terroir

 

Such a geological base is a guarantee of aromatic richness and scope for wines produced by this growth within the Pessac-Léognan appellation.  In 1959, when the Grands Crus of the Graves were officially classified, Château Carbonnieux was classified along with 16 Graves Crus all within the current Pessac-Léognan appellation.  Thanks to the exceptional potential of its terroir, Château Carbonnieux was classified both for red and white wines (which is the case for only 6 crus classés among the 9000 wineries of the Bordeaux region).  Today, the Carbonnieux estate covers 170 hectares of land at the gateway to Bordeaux, including vineyards on 92 adjoining hectares, with almost equal quantities of red and white varieties.

 

Pessac-Leognan Wine

 

Pessac-Léognan is a prestigious appellation for red wine in the Bordeaux region of south-western France.  It was carved out of the Graves sub-region in 1987 as recognition for its high quality red and white wines.  Many of the estates in what is now Pessac-Léognan were the best performers in the Graves Classification of 1959.

 

The regions wines tend to be based on the Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc grape varieties.  They best suit the terroir of Pessac-Léognan.  The dominant soil type is the same gravel (and sand) which gave Graves its name.

 

Pessac-Léognan's white wines are made predominantly from Sauvignon Blanc (a required minimum of 25 percent) and Semillon grapes.  This duo thrive on the sandier soils of the appellation and produce extremely long-lived wines.  In other regions and countries, blends of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon are usually best consumed within a few years of harvest.  The wines are often matured in oak for greater complexity.

 

The northern vineyards of the appellation are intermingled with the southern fringes of Bordeaux city.  Those in the south are surrounded by the forests which produce the other main export of Graves: timber.  Orchards and fields dominate the landscape of the Entre-Deux-Mers region just across the Garonne river, but pine forests and housing are predominant in Pessac-Léognan.

 

Among many top chateaux, the four most prestigious are Haut-Brion, La Mission Haut-Brion, Laville Haut-Brion and Pape Clément.  The latter is named after Pope Clément V, who ordered its original vineyards to be planted in the 14th Century.  Each of these is located within the southern city limits of Bordeaux.  The soils here are deep, with a high proportion of gravel, and are considered the best of the appellation.  Their superior drainage helps to maintain the high quality of the vineyards.

 

The commune (or Bordeaux suburb) of Pessac lies just to the south of these chateaux.  Léognan lies 10 kilometers (six miles) further on.  The latter is also home to several other quality members of the Bordeaux elite.  These include Domaine de Chevalier, and Chateaux Haut-Bailly, Malartic-Lagravière, Larrivet Haut-Brion and de Fieuzal.  Léognan is surrounded almost entirely by pine forests and vineyards, and benefits from the same superior drainage as Pessac.  Southeast of Léognan lies the commune of Martillac.  Smith Haut Lafitte has made massive improvements since the 1990s, and boasts an impressive hotel and spa.  Latour-Martillac, in the very south of the Pessac-Léognan zone is another chateau on the upgrade.

 

 

Chateau Carbonnieux

 

Grand Cru Classe de Graves

 

Pessac – Leognan

 

Owner:  SCEA A. Perrin & Fils

 

Co-Managers:  Eric, Philibert Perrin

 

Vineyard Master:  Freddy Flé

 

Oenologist:  Andréa Perrin

 

Consultant:  Christophe Ollivier

 

The first vineyards of Bordeaux were born south of the city in the Graves region and developed in the Middle Ages with the support of religious communities, and then through trade with England and the North.  This is how the long history of Château Carbonnieux intertwines closely with that of the city, the same periods of crisis, the same hours of glory and today, as a challenge to time, both seem to be facing a new era.

 

The name Carbonnieux is said to come from a family called "Carbonius" or Carbonnieu who cleared and cultivated land near Léognan at the beginning of the 13th century.  The name Ramon Carbonnieu, the owner of vines at Léognan in 1234, is indeed mentioned in the archives of Bordeaux.  The medieval origins of the estate were confirmed by a deed of exchange dated April 2, 1292 signed by two monks from the powerful Sainte-Croix abbey in Bordeaux.  In 1152, Eleanor of Aquitaine married Henry II and so Aquitaine became part of the kingdom of England and was called Guyenne.  Trade flourished, wine sales multiplied and Bordeaux prospered until the Hundred Years War (1337-1453).  After this long troubled period which resulted in shortages, ruined harvests and epidemics, the Benedictine monks were forced to give up their Carbonnieux vineyard.

 

The Ferron Dynasty

 

In 1519 after the difficulties of the Hundred Years War, the Benedictine monks from Sainte Croix sold the Carbonnieux land to Jean de Ferron.  Jean de Ferron who came from a powerful Bordeaux bourgeois family, that already owned vines, had recently been ennobled and to glorify his rank had to own a great vineyard in the Graves region.  As new Lord of Carbonnieux, he started a land purchase and consolidation policy which continued under his successors for two and a half centuries.  Formally a fortified farm, the Ferron noble house gradually became the great domain that it is today with its inner courtyard, high towers, outhouses, cropland and great vineyard.  During the reign of Louis XIV, after several Ferron generations, Carbonnieux reached its first peak.

 

The Monks from the Sainte-Croix Abbey

 

(1740 – 1791)

 

Great Winemakers...

 

Although raised to the status of “Lords of Carbonnieux” the Ferron family ran into debt and sold the estate to the monks of the Sainte-Croix abbey in Bordeaux.  After two and a half centuries in the Ferron family, a new era began for Carbonnieux.  Initially purchased to be ‘a mother earth’ for the abbey, the Carbonnieux estate soon became the major investment of the Benedictine monks who did not hesitate to borrow huge amounts of money to take their Carbonnieux growth to the very top of white Graves wine ranking.  Don Galléas was one of the first to blend varieties and to bottle wine which made it easier for it to be transported and kept for longer before being drunk.  His vinification methods and his cellars were among the most modern in the region.  In the ranking of the Guyenne Intendance , published in 1776, the white wines of the “Aux Bénédictins de Carbonnieux” were very much appreciated.  Although the “premier cru de Pontac”(Haut-Brion) was the reference for red wines at the time, Carbonnieux by far led the ranking of white wines from Guyenne.

 

... And Also Exporters

 

Thanks to the talents and entrepreneurship of the Benedictine monks from the Sainte-Croix abbey for half a century, the domain flourished and the famous bottle with the Saint Jacques shell attained worldwide renown, from Constantinople to the United States.  In fact, during the 18th century when times were particularly good for the port of Bordeaux, the monks managed to introduce the clear white wines of Carbonnieux, with their pale colour into the palace of the Ottoman Sultan and called them “the mineral water of Carbonnieux”.  The trick worked because one of his favourites was a woman from Bordeaux who had been captured by pirates and given to the Prince of the harem.  The legend even goes so far as to say that the Prince asked “why do the French make wine when they have such delicious mineral water ?”

 

Thomas Jefferson's Visit

 

In 1786, Thomas Jefferson, the future president of the United States, a gastronome and great wine lover went on a grand tour of France to discover its vineyards.  In Bordeaux he selected a few famous estates and his diary shows that he came to Carbonnieux to taste the “Wine of the Odalisques” as it was then called in the United States.  Thomas Jefferson also left his mark by planting an American pecan tree in the Château park.  This tree, over two centuries old, still takes pride of place in the inner courtyard today.

 

From the Bouchereau to the Perrin family

 

(1791 - 1956)

 

During the French Revolution (1789) the state confiscated all clerical property In January 1791, after a fierce auction, Carbonnieux was sold as a “national property” to Elie de Bouchereau for 366,000 livres ,which was 170,00 livres above its estimated worth.  Back from the Indies, the Bouchereau family settled at Château Carbonnieux for 87 years.  Prior to the phylloxera attack of 1871, the estate comprised 137 hectares, half of which were planted in noble Bordeaux grape varieties, painstakingly selected thanks to the ampelographic research carried out by the Bouchereau brothers.  Between 1828 and 1871, Henry-Xavier Bouchereau built up at Carbonnieux a unique collection of French and European grape varieties that included up to 1,242 different specimens.  Like most landowners during the “disease crisis”, the Bouchereau family had to sell their estate in 1878.  At the dawn of the 20th century and up to 1956, the estate changed hands many times before the Perrin family eventually took it over.

 

A New Peak for Carbonnieux

 

(1956 to the present day)

 

After the suffering of two World Wars, Bordeaux viticulture had reached its lowest ebb.  There was a terrible frost in the winter of 1956 and it was in this same year that Marc Perrin who had bought the estate, set to work on the renovation of the château and its vineyard.  With the help of his son, he first started a significant replanting campaign that took the estate to 45 hectares in 1970 then to 70 hectares in 1980, to reach almost 95 hectares today.  When his father passed away, Antony took over, he built a new fermentation cellar and modernized the cellars to adapt to new vinification methods.  He continued the restoration of the château and the vineyards and focused on increasing the renown of Carbonnieux and Bordeaux wines throughout the world.  He was president of the “Union of Grands Crus de Bordeaux”, president of the “Crus Classés de Graves” as well as being one of the forerunners of the Pessac-Léognan appellation, created in 1987.  Over the years he passed on the family winemaking heritage and his skills to his children Eric, Christine and Philibert Perrin. 

 

Today the torch has been passed on to them and once again the estate has reached a peak.  In the footsteps of their father, Eric held the office of president of the "crus classés de Graves" between 2012 and 2015 and since 2017, Philibert has been that of president of the Pessac-Léognan appellation.  In 2019, The family has grown, Eric's eldest sons join the work teams.  Marc for a commercial part and Andréa as an oenologist in charge of the winemaking.