Château Hannetot: Tasting & Drinking
On visiting the property in June 2014 I first took a walk around the vineyards in order to get a feel for its location and for the soils that they have to work with here. Although still obviously young the vines are in good health, and were well on their way to producing a handsome crop for the 2014 vintage.
Although there is a long history here, with viticulture along the way, there are no older vintages to be had. The estate declined during the latter years of the 20th century, and the 2006 revitalisation by Xavier Beaumartin was not so much a ‘freshening up’ of the domaine as a complete rebirth, with rapid, extensive and completely new planting of the 4 hectares.
After planting in 2006 the first vintage of the new Château Hannetot was 2010, and Serge Charritte hit the ground running with this vintage, the wine showing a fine substance for such young vines, with a good concentration of fruit and backbone. Unfortunately several difficult vintages followed; and although I was not able to taste the 2013 the 2011 and 2012 both showed the lesser characteristics of this vintage. The 2012 was lean, but with an attractive backbone and appealing perfume of violets alongside the fruit. It was slightly superior to the 2011 vintage, however, with its rather crunchy and delicate fruit presence. It is, I feel, a wine which is destined for drinking sooner rather than later.
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