LA GRANDE CLOTTE AROUND THE WORLD
INTERNATIONAL
RECOGNITION
Our wines win awards every year, whether it’s a medal in prestigious competitions throughout France, or getting 90+ grades from renowned wine figures such as critics Lisa Perrotti (Wine Advocate), James Suckling, Antonio Galloni (Vinous) and so many others. Some well-known specialised French media such as La Revue des Vins de France and Le Point are also full of praise for our productions. Our 2016 vintage even scored two stars in the Guide Hachette des Vins (Hachette Wine Guide) – a success to be proud of.
CHÂTEAU LA GRANDE CLOTTE ROUGE
A SUBTIL
GOURMET WINE
Amongst the 6.5 hectares of land dedicated to growing red grapes, you can find the vines that have offered all their subtlety to Château La Grande Clotte for 25 years.
Once the harvest is done, the fruits of three grape varieties (Merlot, Cabernet-Franc and Malbec) are vinified in tanks. Then we grow them equally in tanks and barrels, for 12 to 14 months. This repartition is quite typical of Lussac-Saint-Emilion wines, it allows them to preserve a lot of fruity aromas and roundness and benefit from the wood’s tannins, slowly revealing themselves to set the wine’s colour.
Therefore, we get a gourmet wine that can wait 6 to 8 years before you open it–– if you can wait that long! It will be best served with red meat or fatty fish such as salmon or tuna sushi.
Rouge
L'ENVOLÉE
A POWERFUL
AND COMPLEX WINE
On the parcel right in front of the house, you can find Merlot vines that have been growing there for 90 years. They are the ones giving birth to L’Envolée, a vintage we only produce in great years.
These grapes never see the bottom of tanks: it’s the Vinification Intégrale method, which consists of putting the grapes in contact with the wooden barrels right from the beginning of alcoholic fermentation. The wine growing process will take place exclusively in the same barrel. This intimacy is the origin of silky tannins and a true harmony that you’ll discover slowly, while enjoying a meal of red meat or a generous cheeseboard.
L’Envolée can also be put in your cellar to mature for 10 to 15 years.
L'ENVOLÉE
This vintage was created in 2016 and it’s our pride and joy. It combines the best practices we have learned during our various experiences.
Mathieu-
CHÂTEAU LA GRANDE CLOTTE BLANC
A RICH
AND FRUITY WINE
Among the 35,000 bottles we produce each year, only 3,500 consist of our white wine vintage––and with good reason!
Our precious grape varieties of Sauvignon Blanc, Sauvignon Gris, Sémillon, and Muscadelle were planted in 1992 over a single hectare. This is a daring move on the rive droite (right bank of the Garonne river), where all terroir is traditionally reserved to red wines.
White wine grapes are easily damaged by heat so we harvest the fruits early in the morning to preserve their freshness and rapidly press them to limit their exposure to oxygen which alters their aroma molecules.
Fermentation takes place in renewed barrels at low temperature. It’s followed by the bâtonnage method––a traditional technique inherited from Burgundy wine-growers––where during six months, twice a day and then twice a week, the wine lees settled in the bottom of the barrel are put back in suspension in order to boost the conservation potential of the wine and to develop intricate flavors. The result is clear: peach, apricot, and floral notes reveal themselves amidst a beautiful length on the palate and a recognisable unctuousness.
Château La Grande Clotte white wine is best served with cheese, such as Comté or Fourme d’Ambert, or with a tasty chicken marinated in yellow wine and morels.
This wine to keep can patiently wait in your cellar for 6 to 8 years.
