Château Lagrange 3ème Grand Cru Classé 2011

Presentación del lote

Château Lagrange 3ème Grand Cru Classé 2011

La «cuvée»

The grand vin of this Troisième Grand Cru Classé from the Saint-Julien appellation, Château Lagrange is crafted from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot, rooted in a mosaic of soils composed mainly of gravel and silica over clay and limestone subsoils.
The grapes are hand-harvested, then vinified in temperature-controlled vats, with fermentation lasting between 18 and 25 days. Only the finest cuvées are selected for the final blend, and the wine is aged for around 20 months in French oak barriques, 60% of which is new oak.
The resulting wines strike a finely judged balance between elegance, delicacy, depth and restrained power. Built for ageing, they can appear somewhat austere in their youth but reward patience with refined suppleness and layers of generous aromatic expression. Given time, the connoisseur will appreciate the intensity of their pure fruit character and their impressive aromatic persistence.

Classed within the Grand Cru Saint-Julien in 1855, the origins of Château Lagrange can be traced back to the Middle Ages. It was only in the 18th century that it became dedicated to viticulture, finding favour with the American ambassador Thomas Jefferson, who placed it 3rd in his rank of personal favourites. After a series of crises between the 19th and 20th centuries (phylloxera, world wars), the property has risen from the ashes, notably thanks to the Suntory family who bought it in 1983 and undertook a large-scale renovation. Today, Château Lagrange is committed to producing wines with the greatest respect for nature. It has a reduced ecological footprint and the producers favour biodiversity (beehives, sheep rearing and 300 tree species). The vinification is just as attentive: the team of over thirty people carries out single-parcel selection using both traditional and more innovative methods. As for the grape varieties (70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot and 5% Petit Verdot for the reds, and 80% Sauvignon Blanc, 10% Sauvignon Gris and 10% Sémillon for the whites), they benefit from being grown in pebble soil, are harvested by hand, and vinified in stainless steel in order to preserve the delicate nature of the fruit. The wines are matured in 50% new casks.