Pessac Léognan Grand Cru Classé 2016 Red - Chateau Latour Martillac

TERROIR

The vineyard is divided into two homogeneous sub-groups. On the Martillac plateau, the dominant hilltop of the property is made up of a mosaic of tombs.
These small pebbles deposited in the Quaternary by the Garonne form a clever and harmonious mixture of quartz, Lydian, jasper and flint.
These poor draining soils constitute an ideal terrain for vines, in particular for the red grape varieties Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit-Verdot.
Getting closer to the Garonne, the soils take on a clay-limestone profile, with always some gravel on the surface.
It is here that our Merlots and our white grape varieties, Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon, express themselves best.

DOMAIN

The estate owes its name to the tower which stands in the main courtyard of the castle. It is the vestige of a fort built in the 12th century by Montesquieu's ancestors. The structure then occupies a strategic position and controls the dependent road from Bordeaux to Toulouse. The stones from the fort were used to build the current castle at the end of the 18th century.

In 1871, the estate attracted the attention of Edouard Kressmann who had just founded his trading house in Bordeaux. He was seduced by the quality of the white wines born on a remarkable gravelly hillside with marked relief and exceptional exposure.

Alfred Kressmann, Edouard's eldest son, ended up owning the property in 1930. He changed the name: to avoid any confusion with its illustrious Médoc namesake, Château Latour became Château Latour-Martillac.
Suitable for long restructuring work. The vineyard then comprised around fifteen hectares, the majority of which was planted with white grapes. Without touching the oldest plots, Alfred Kressmann adds Cabernet Sauvignon to the Merlots already in place.

Interrupted by the war, the restructuring continued with Jean Kressmann, who succeeded his father in 1954. Jean then made the family dream come true by acquiring the gravelly plateau separating the estate from the village. The vineyard thus gradually extends over nearly 30 hectares. Jean Kressmann was passionate about winemaking, and owes him the success of the red vintages 1959, 1961, 1966, 1970, 1975, 1982, and his favorite, the 1983. At the same time, he contributed to the creation of the Pessac-Léognan municipal appellation, bringing together 10 municipalities in the north of the Graves region located in the historic “Burranie Prévôtale” of Bordeaux.

Today, Jean Kressmann's children continue the family tradition, with Tristan and Loïc, the two youngest sons, who are in charge of its general management. With the help of the best oenologist consultants in Bordeaux, vintage after vintage, they get the best out of this authentic Graves terroir.
In the 1980s, they added a few plots of Sauvignon Blanc to harmoniously complement the Sémillon, the estate's historical reference.
In red, the blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot is now associated with excellent Petits Verdots, located on one of the best gravel plots on the Martillac plateau. At the estate, there is a plot grafted in 1884 with the entire collection of grape varieties selected by Edouard Kressmann for his “Graves Monopole Dry”, as the diva Adelina Patti called it. Magnified by their great age, these vines embody the race, the nerve and the sap which always characterize the vintage.

DELIVERY

• Deliveries only in France and Europe
• Express delivery to Paris
• Pick-up at the Paris store is free

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