Château Thieuley: Wines
As a rule the fruit is machine-picked, necessary in this sort of appellation. Starting with the white wines, the fruit begins its transformation in a Bucher Vaslin pneumatic press under nitrogen protection, with a very slow pressing giving a period of skin contact lasting up to twenty hours. “This is very important for the aromatics” says Marie Courselle. The juice then undergoes temperature-controlled fermentation in 350-hectolitre stainless steel vats for the domaine wine, which is 35% Sauvignon Blanc, 15% Sauvignon Gris and 50% Semillon, sourced from 22 hectares of vines on clay and gravel. The temperature is kept low, but no lower than 17ºC, “to favour thiols over esters” says Marie Courselle. Meanwhile the upper-crust Cuvée Francis Courselle, officially 50% Sauvignon Blanc (although this figure often seems to include Sauvignon Gris) and 50% Semillon from 5.5 hectares of vines on clay and gravel, sees a fermentation and élevage in barrel for eight months, with lees stirring for the first six. The production is 180,000 bottles of the former and 36,000 bottles of the latter.
The reds see a fermentation in 110-hectolitre vats for the Réserve Francis Courselle, and in 250-hectolitre vats for the domaine wine. The fermenting must is warmed to 30ºC to aid extraction, with pigeage and remontage to help this along. The wine is then then run off and pumped up to barrel cellar. The élevage is 70% in used barrels and 30% in cement vat for the domaine wine, which is 70% Merlot and 30% Cabernet Franc from 22 hectares on clay and gravel.
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