Tasting

millésimes

Each vintage brings out the character of its terroirs in its own way. Soil, grape variety, sunshine, temperature, rainfall (especially in late summer and early autumn) all contribute to bring out the wines' expression, subtly different every year.

Different every time, but always closely linked to the soil which imprints its character on them from the start, but seasonal conditions also make their mark. the aromatic intensity and power of a given wine may be variable. This offers the wine-lover the pleasure of making discoveries, of experiencing excitement of discovery: terroir gives the framework, yearly conditions add the detail.

2004

After a hot summer in 2003, the winter of 2003-4 was mild, overcast and rainy. Spring was quite dry, but alternating cold and warm spells meant that flowering was delayed and spread over nearly three weeks. At this stage, a heavy crop was in prospect and a great deal of disbudding had to be carried out in order to limit yields.

Unfortunately, the domaine was struck by a hail-storm on July 20th and the "Cras" plots were severely damaged. Heavy rainfall in August gave way to exceptionally fine weather in the first half of September.

Harvesting began on 23rd September and this year, even more than in other years, triage was indispensable.

The reds underwent only brief maceration and yielded elegant and well-fruited wines. In the mouth, tannins were supple, and aromatic persistence was good.

The chardonnays of this vintage had quite intense fruit and the more limy plots were marked by a very attractive minerality, medium density in the mouth, and quite good aromatic persistence.

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MERLIN : WINE-GROWERS AND WINE-MAKERS. DIRECT SALES. - 71960 la Roche Vineuse
Téléphone: 03 85 36 62 09 - Fax: 03 85 36 66 45 - E-mail: contact@merlin-vins.fr - Internet: http://www.merlin-vins.com