CHÂTEAU MANGOT 2019 RED WINE

TERROIR

CHÂTEAU MANGOT is the main estate wine. It is made up of a blend of both grape varieties and terroirs. The grape varieties blend respects the following proportions :

• 80% Merlot
• 15% Cabernet Franc
• 5% Cabernet Sauvignon

4 distinct terroirs are blended in the CHÂTEAU MANGOT wine :

• The slope foot, made up of Fronsadais molasses with clayey-sandy facies and about twenty meters thick. This soil results from a sedimentation that took place in the Eocene (-37 to -33 My) when the Aquitaine Basin was only a vast marine gulf after the sea withdrawal.
  
  
• The slopes, mainly made up of the same Fronsadais molasses as those at the slope foot. Part of these molasses is covered, in places, with a fluvial deposit of about fifteen meters thick green carbonate clays and sands. Ten meters thick clay-limestone benches, called castillon limestones, also outcrop at the surface : they settled out in a lake environment and therefore testify to the presence in these places and during the Oligocene, of a carbonate lake.
  
  
• The terraces, made up of Fronsadais molasses that settled out later than slope and slope foot molasses : their formation took place during the first part of the Oligocene and they consist of a thick layer of sand and carbonate clays.
  
  
• The Plateau, made up of a limestone substrate which formed towards the end of the Oligocene (between -28 and -23 My) when the sea invaded the region for the last time. The deposit is therefore of marine type, these are the famous asteriated limestones typical of the Saint-Emilion area, rich in fossilized starfish.

Each grape variety from each terroir is vinified in separate vats until blending, a final step which will take place after a two years long tasting of each vat, with the aim of producing a wine of constant quality, reflecting the terroirs composing it.

WINEGROWING & WINEMAKING

CHÂTEAU MANGOT 's elaboration begins first of all in the vineyard. The estate, aware of its heritage richness, seeks to preserve this exceptional vineyard, sometimes planted on terraces, sometimes on hillsides or on the summit plateau. The presence of 3 ha of meadows, woods, and lakes scattered among plots provides them with a natural ecosystem promoting biodiversity : the estate relies on the auxiliary insects and birds activity for the vines protection, which may be strengthened on a case-by-case basis, but the estate has not used synthetic products for more than 10 years. The ISO 14001 certification is obtained in 2016 and the HVE (High Environmental Value) certification in 2017, and the vineyard is beeing converted to Organic Agriculture.

To determine the harvest date, the estate proceeds by successive tasting to determine the precise moment when the grapes have reached their optimal maturity. The harvest is done plot by plot in order to be able to vinify each terroir separately and it is totally destemmed. The grapes are sorted three times : they are first sorted on a vibrating and aerodynamic table, then manually.

The grapes carry out a cold pre-fermentation maceration which promotes better extraction of color and aromas. The alcoholic fermentation then starts spontaneously with the native yeasts, and the maceration lasts 4 weeks.

After pressing, the wine is aged for 13 to 15 months in 225-liter French oak barrels, 40% of them are new barrels. The blending is done at the end of the two years long vinification, according to the taste evolution of the different tanks, each corresponding to a terroir and a grape variety. After bottling, the wine rests in the cellar for a few extra-years before being marketed.