CHÂTEAU DE MERCEY
SANTENAY 2016
CHÂTEAU DE MERCEY
SANTENAY 2016
History
This is a village appellation of Côte de Beaune, Côte d'Or.
This appellation includes 11 Premier Cru "climats", 280.57 hectares of red wines (109.69 in Premier Cru) and 47.70 hectares of white wines (12.80 hectares in Premier Cru).
This wine is produced on the villages of Santenay and Remigny.
Grape variety
Terroir
Vinification and maturing
Maceration lasted about 3 weeks in order to get wines with a deep color, complex aromas and as a consequence a good ageing potential.
Traditional vinification was carried out in temperature-controlled concrete vats – that allowed us to master the fermentation temperatures thanks to the great inertia of concrete - with daily pumping-over and stirring occasionally. Alternating those two methods is a good way to obtain balanced wines because the tannins are not too much extracted.
Then, the wine was aged for 9 months in oak barrels with 25% new oak.
Tasting notes
Nose: vanillin with lively blacurrant notes.
Palate: a wine on fruit and elegance with a supple attack, a mouth full of fruit with long and fine tannins.
Wine and food pairing
Ageing potential
Serving temperature
Vintage : 2016
As the saying goes, nothing is a foregone conclusion, and the climate in Burgundy for this vintage comes as a proof of its accuracy.
A rather mild winter made us think we would have an early vintage. But even if we knew we would go through the now traditional climatic hazards, we were far from the truth! Actually, the whims of the weather were so important that we worried a lot. Indeed, spring played havoc with our nerves with a rollercoaster of frost, rainfalls and cold, bringing its share of diseases in the vineyards. We had to fight hard against the threat of mildew, botrytis and even oïdium in the end.
Luckily for us, summer was quite sunny and made up for the hard times. Another evidence that patience and perseverance are the keys which solve everything, and that a bad start is in no case an indication of the final result. Finally, this vintage was exhausting with a late harvest but the low yields and a sunny summer helped getting beautiful ripe grapes with a great aromatic potential.
Harvest started with the sun on September, 22nd and lasted until October, 7th. Grapes were ripe and healthy, in variable amounts depending on the plots, as some of them suffered from the frosting that occurred in spring.
Vinifying the red grapes was finally a real pleasure, as quality was good. The wines already bear beautiful colors and good tannins that promise a full-bodied seductive result.