Domaine de Pallus: Wines
Bertrand Sourdais tells me he likes to pick Cabernet Franc when it communicates something of the variety, the soil and the vintage. He has long given up on the harvesting machine favoured by his father, and today the fruit is picked by hand and brought to the cellars where it is sorted and entirely (or almost entirely) destemmed. The fruit is then deposited in wooden cuves for the vinification and maceration.
Up to and including the 2019 vintage the process of maceration rolled out over a fairly typical 20 to 25 days. Says Bertrand, “a maceration of 18 to 20 days is typical of right-bank Bordeaux, and it is enough to capture the physical characteristics of the grapes.” I sense Bertrand is after much more than this though, and in a bold move in the 2020 vintage he moved to a maceration lasting between six and eight weeks. To my palate, this has a profound impact on the structure of the wine, although Bertrand believes it brings “Cabernet character rather than mere muscle.”
During his first few years Bertrand blended from around the property, from La Rougerie, La Croix Boissée and old-vine fruit from Briançon to create the Grand Vin de Pallus. This changed when he shifted to a cuvée parcellaire system, starting in 2013.
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