Château Caronne-Ste-Gemme
I first encountered the wine of this estate with the 1996 vintage, hidden amongst a formidable line-up; it was a blind tasting of wines from the left bank in this vintage, and it included Château Pontet-Canet, a property that was really strutting its stuff in the 1996 vintage, at that time in the early stages of the Tesseron-led revitalisation, not to mention an impressive bottle from Château Calon-Ségur. And so it wasn’t an easy ride for little Château Caronne-Ste-Gemme, nevertheless to say it performed well would be something of an understatement. It held its head high. Since that encounter I have been fortunate enough to taste many more vintages, and these early impressions have been confirmed again and again. This property has long been a source of great-value wine in the traditional left-bank style, and one all committed Bordeaux drinkers should know of.
Sadly, this future may be under threat, following the sale of the estate to Bernard Magrez, proprietor of Château La Tour Carnet, in 2022. Only time will tell. In the meantime, there are plenty of older vintages out these, so in this profile I examine the vineyards and approach to winemaking taken on this estate during the many years it was under the direction of the Nony family.
First though, as is customary, I provide some detail on its origins and history.
History
Château Caronne-Ste-Gemme derives its name most probably from carona, an old Gaulish word for a spring or water source, while Sainte Gemme is said to be a derivative of Saint Jaime (or Saint James), a local parish name now long-disappeared. While the origins of the name seem plausible, however, the origins of the estate and vineyards are vague at best, a fact which perhaps reflects a very long history of viticulture here.
