1999 VINTAGE

A very beautiful dress of a brilliant golden yellow.

WEATHER DURING THE GROWING SEASON

After a mild winter, bud break occurred early, at the end of March. April was cool (with hail on the 21st), which slowed down vine growth, and weather in May blew both hot and cold. Flowering took place quickly in early June, and a drought period began starting with a heat wave on St. John's day. There was a heat wave in mid-July and then again at the end of the month. Stormy weather in early August coincided with the véraison (colour change). Plentiful sun and heat brought the grapes to maturity during the first few days of September.
On September 9th and 10th, two plots of 100% Sémillon grapes were picked to produce the dry white wine, "Guilhem".

HARVEST

The 1999 vintage is reminiscent of the preceeding year in that two thirds of the harvest took place in the month of September. Showers propagating noble rot lasted a week in mid-September. The first and second waves of picking took place from September 24-29. The juice was very rich and particularly aromatic. A second rainy period (4 days) gave new impetus to botrytis on September 30th and a new wave of picking started on October 7th. This lasted an entire week. The must was very concentrated with candied fruit aromas of great complexity and perfect freshness. The tail end of the harvest took place on October 21st.

THE WINE

Fermented and aged in barrel for three years Production: 24,000 bottles Alcohol: 13.50° Residual sugar: 122 g/l Acidity: 4.90 g/l