Diane de Belgrave 2018

Diane de Belgrave est le second vin du Château Belgrave, Grand Cru Classé en 1855 de l’appellation Haut-Médoc, propriété de Vignobles Dourthe. Son nom rappelle le lien historique entre le cru et la chasse. Le vignoble de 59 hectares se compose de deux croupes élevées de graves profondes sur sous-sols argileux, de sols gravelo-sableux et d’affleurements d’argile, sur la rive gauche de la Gironde.

Issu de vignes plus jeunes que celles du grand vin, ce second vin bénéficie des mêmes travaux viticoles et installations. Les vendanges sont manuelles, en cagettes, suivies d’un tri optique. La vinification se déroule en cuves inox de tailles variées, puis le vin est élevé pendant 12 mois. Le millésime 2018 assemble 85 % de merlot, 11 % de cabernet sauvignon et 4 % de petit verdot.

Ce vin dévoile des notes de framboise, de cerise noire, de cassis, de fraise mûre, de tabac blond, de menthe fraîche, de charbon de bois et de vanille. La robe rubis s’ouvre sur des fruits rouges bien mûrs. La bouche est ronde et voluptueuse, soutenue par des tanins structurants et très fins qui accompagnent toute la dégustation jusqu’à une finale harmonieuse.

The cradle of wine culture in Western Europe, France owes its first vines to the Greeks of Phocaea, who settled around Marseille some twenty-six centuries ago, before the Romans spread viticulture along the Rhône and the Garonne and as far as Champagne. In the Middle Ages, Cistercian and Benedictine monks cleared the slopes of Burgundy and patiently mapped out the climats, laying the foundations of the notion of terroir. The 19th century brought the glory of the classifications, then the disaster of phylloxera, which wiped out the vineyards before they were rebuilt on American rootstocks; the creation of the appellations d'origine contrôlée in the 1930s then set the rules that would inspire the whole world. Today, France vies every year with Italy and Spain for first place in world production by volume and remains the ultimate benchmark of the Old World, as much for its age-worthy wines as for its winemaking models. Vineyards cover almost the entire country, from the cool north of Champagne and Alsace to the Mediterranean shores of Languedoc and Provence, by way of the oceanic climates of Bordeaux, the Loire and the South-West, continental Burgundy, the steep slopes of the northern Rhône and the high-altitude valleys of Savoie and the Jura. This mosaic of soils – limestone, schist, gravel or rounded pebbles – explains the extraordinary diversity of styles. As for grape varieties, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot dominate Bordeaux and produce structured reds, Pinot Noir is the signature of Burgundian finesse, Syrah of the depth of the Rhône, while Grenache, Gamay, Cabernet Franc and Mourvèdre cover every register, from easy-drinking wines to wines for long ageing. Among the whites, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin, Riesling and Viognier offer expressions ranging from lively and mineral to unctuous, all the way to great sweet wines. A land of benchmarks and constant discoveries, France remains the compass for wine lovers the world over.