La Sonate is a wine coming from the best parcels of a charming property situated amongst the pebbly and sandy soils of the Saint-Emilion Grand Cru appellation. Pebbles and sand keep the environment warm, resulting in optimal ripening conditions. The vineyard, which covers 2.5 hectares, is planted with traditional Bordeaux grape varieties: 85% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc.
Only rigorous assessment and regular tasting of the berries, parcel by parcel, can help decide which is the ideal date to harvest each grape variety. Carefully selected beforehand, the berries then undertake their vinification in wood, thus emphasizing a gentle extraction process which helps produce a balanced, full-bodied, powerful wine. Subtle hints of complexity appear during the maturation in barrel but never betray the soul of the wine: here again, a great expression of fruit...
Ownership : Banton & Lauret
Location : Vignonet
A.O.C. : Saint-Emilion Grand cru
Production : 12 000 bottles
Surface : 2.5 Ha
Geology : Pebbles and sand mix
Orientation of rows : North - South for optimal exposure
Planted grape varieties : 85% Merlot / 15% Cabernet Franc
Average age of vineyard : 30 years
Pruning : Short - double Guyot
Planting density : 6 000 plants per hectare
Trellising type : High trellis to maximise the foliage surface
Operations on the ground : Grassing on 50% of rows, scraping on 50% of rows, no chemical weeding
Fertilization mode : Corrective supply of green manure after harvest
Vineyard protection : Reasoned - treatments are positioned according to vegetative stage and dosed according to the pressure of diseases
Green works : Thinning out new branches + topping and trimming + disbudding + base-disbudding + thinning out leaves on both sides of the row + 1-to-2 green harvests according to vintage
Harvests starting decision-making : Parcel analysis through tasting
Harvesting : By hand with grape-boxes
Operations on crop : Berry sorting table, then total destemming of grapes, then vibrating berry sorting table (6 meters)
Number of people at sorting : 12
State of crop when put into vats : Intact berries
Vats : 25-to-60 HL oak tanks
Vinification : Parcel-based, concentration through bleedings by 15%, smooth extraction through fractionated pumping-overs + 1 délestage (gentle destructurising of the cap of solids)
Maceration : 30 days, micro-oxygenation below cap
Fermentation temperature : 26-30°C
Press wine operations : Separate ageing in one-year old barrels, splitted in quality lots
Malolactic fermentation : 20°C, entirely in new oak barrels
Maturing : 60% new casks, micro-oxygenation, stirring of the lees, very few, gentle rackings by gravity / 40% in cement tanks, micro-oxygenation on fine lees
Bottling preparation : Fining if necessary (fresh egg whites), slight sulphiting
Filtration : Loose filtration to respect the structure of the wine
Bottling : Château