History
In the 16th Century, this ancient dry and poor plateau had been given up to the refugees of the confrontations between the Catholics and the Protestants, and to their herd of goats.
Nowadays, a family vineyard where already three generations have maintained a specific objective: that the wine may naturally express its range of complete flavours typical for this original local “terroir”
Tang of the Soil
A vintage wine is the result of a successful alliance between a grape variety, a soil and a climate. The grey sandy clay and the iron hard pan layer Quarternary terrace of Vieux Chevrol, irrigated by the presence of sand and gravels, contribute to a rather ungiving soil where the merlot slowly takes root deep down to offer a small quantity of fruit with a specific character.
The success here of the delicate “merlot” on this low level plateau (39 m) is largely due to the ocean climatic conditions tied to the effect of the Gulf Stream.
The work in the vineyard
Eight people work permanently on this vineyard carefully pruning, disbudding, removing the extra bunches (green harvest).
The biological health of the ground is maintained by 4 ground treatments for example ploughing. Traditional vinification by natural yeast from the soil, immersed marc and slow maceration (pre fermentation and post fermentation.
Manual Harvest
Average age of vineyard: 25-30 years
Grape variety:
Merlot 80 %
Cabernet France 10 %
Cabernet Sauvignon 10 %
In the cellar
The objective of all this manual care is to concentrate on a small quantity of fruit with a perfect ripeness, the character, at times peculiar,, of a soil changed in an aromatic complexity: definition of “vin de terroir”.
This elaborate wine is an unstable emulsion. The balance will become stronger by a maturing in barrels, in fact, a sparing oxidation, thanks to the wooden porosity .
At “Vieux Chevrol”, the wine is aged according to the vintage 12 to 18 months in 5 cm thick French sessile oak demi muids (600 liters large casks): 10 % of which are replaced each year.