Madiran Vieilles Vignes Château Bouscassé - Alain Brumont 2001

Lot presentation

Madiran Vieilles Vignes Château Bouscassé - Alain Brumont 2001

The wine

The cuvée Vieilles Vignes is Bouscassé’s great wine for laying down, matured on its lees for between 14 and 16 months in oak barrels and neither fined nor filtered. This cuvée of pure Tannat benefitted from a clay-limestone soil, lending the wine both richness and a certain freshness. Vinification included fermentation at 28°C, maceration for 3 to 6 weeks, and malolactic fermentation in new barrels. To taste, this dense and complex wine charms with its depth and intense aromas of black fruits, spices and liquorice. Its fullness on the palate, with powerful and well-integrated tannins, is long and lingering, and calls for equally rich food pairings. To relish with duck confit and braised beef.

Owned by Alain Brumont, who is also at the head of Château Montus, Bouscassé is one of the big names of Madiran. In 1979, Alain Brumont left the family-owned domaine of Château Bouscassé and bought Château Montus. He completely changed the vineyards (with other rootstocks and seedlings selected…) and took inspiration from the Bordeaux model, aging his wines in small new oak barrels. In 1982, he made his first wines with the grapes from three-year-old vines. This great success marked the beginning of Madiran wine's worldwide renown. Some years later, he went back to running the family domaine, Château Bouscassé. The wines from both domains are vinified at Château Montus. Brumont is therefore the largest landowner in the appellation (with almost 180 hectares) and owns the best parcels.