Ethereal, fresh, appealing to both the nose and the palate, Pédesclaux’s second wine is a flower that unfurls as you approach. Thanks to its reliance on a high proportion of Merlot, the wine is soft and gentle, with a delicious, silky texture. It has intense, compelling and savoury fruit aromas and, year after year, beautifully calibrated scents of white flowers, violets and small red berries. Exhibiting a more high-spirited elegance yet nonetheless showing remarkable length, Fleur de Pédesclaux is a delight. In the mouth, it is fresh, subtle, packed with fruit and beautifully smooth tannins, with a long finish. In this more floral expression, the marvellous complexity of our terroir is once again evident, but in a mouth-watering style that is instantly festive.

The Terroirs
Garonne gravel on subsoil of limestone

The Grape Varieties
59 % Cabernet-Sauvignon, 36 % Merlot, 3 % Petit Verdot, 2 % Cabernet franc

Grape varieties: Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon

Tasting notes:

Deep ruby red colour with violet highlights. Fruit driven with aromas of black cherry and blueberry. Delicate notes of mint, black pepper and liquorice appear when agitated. Good texture on the palate with ripe tannins. Long finish. Full, fresh, dense and silky mouthfeel.

Food matches: Tuna in red wine sauce, steak “Bordelaise” grilled on vine stalks, Pyreneens cheese with dark cherry marmalade; Serve between 16° and 18° C.

Winemaking: Traditional winemaking methods with a minimum of 6 months of ageing in French oak barrels. De-stalked grapes – alcoholic fermentation in vats at high temperature (30-32°C) with daily pumping over – maceration (3 weeks) – malolactic fermentation in vats.

Soil: Sandy and gravelly.
Climate: Oceanic, mild and humid.
Aging: The wine is aged in French oak barrels for 6 months.

Tasting notes:

Brilliant garnet red color. The nose reveals nice aromas of ripe fruits (strawberry, blackberry) with delicate coffee notes. Harmonious and elegant on the palate, offering a round structure, full of red and black berries.

Food matches:

Red meat, poultry, pasta and cheese.

Winemaking: Optimum ripeness of the grapes - de-stalking and crushing of the grapes – a part of the harvest benefits from a “flash détente” process to enhance an optimum level of color and fruity aromas – the other part follows a traditional alcoholic fermentation in vats with 2 rack and return per day.

Soil: Coming from different regions of the Languedoc (The Aude, the Herault and the Gard) where each offers a different type of soil (schist, marls, chalk and clay).
Climate: The hot and windy Mediterranean climate, along with the interesting diversity in the soils of these 3 areas, result in powerful and fruity wines.
Aging: Long maceration (3 weeks) with micro oxygenation before malolactic fermentation in vats to develop the color and to supple the tannins.

"Selected from some of our finest Hawke's Bay Gimblett Gravels vineyards, this small-batch, barrel-fermented wine is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (65%) from our Gimblett Road and Murdoch vineyards, Cabernet Franc (20%) from our Gimblett Road vineyard, and Merlot (15%) from our Mere Road vineyard. The wine is full and expressive, showing rich fruit with spice, tobacco, chocolate and a velvety texture offering refinement, power and persistence. 

Generous, intense and complex with rich black fruit notes, mocha coffee and sweet spice."

Traditional vinification is carried out in cement vats. Vatting lasts for between 20 and 30 days, depending on the vintage and, after the malolactic fermentation, the wines go into barrel (one-third renewed every year) and remain there for 12 months. The final selection of which wines will go to make the final blend for Château Angludet is made in the following February or March. The process of selection is strict (as only the best wines can be included) and is done by a series of tastings. Once the final blend has been done, the wine is fined with egg whites and very lightly filtered before bottling. Drink 2023-2035.

Fleshy, soft, smooth Merlot from Pays D'Oc in the south of France. Beautiful youthful red made for immediate consumption with satisfying depth of ripe plum flavours supported by moderate oak support for complex flavour notes and a lingering finish. Made with grapes grown on the slopes of the Orb Valley and Herald's Valley in the south of France. 

Great value for money.

Savoury, structured and classically beautiful Bordeaux which drinks beautifully with complex black olive, dried herb and fragrant dark fruit flavours now; made from 48% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon and 12% Cabernet Franc. 

Chateau Magnol has 31 hectares of grapes in the Haut-Médoc, west of the city of Bordeaux and has gravel as well as sandy soils in its vineyards. It has gained the classification of Cru Bourgeois, which this commandingly impressive wine more than lives up to. 

VINEYARDS Parcels of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon were hand-picked from selected sites on the  gravel soils of the old Ngaruroro River, and old vine Merlot from the Bridge Pa region.  Bridge Pa Triangle soils feature fine silt loam over red metal gravels, while the gravel sites protected by Roys Hill, feature gravel over fine silt. These sites are free draining and low in fertility, resulting in struggling vines producing fruit of great concentration. Low yielding vines, open canopy management, managed irrigation and Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand farmed were common to all sites. Bridge Pa Merlot delivers ripe, dark plums which compliments the spicy brighter fruits from the gravels. Cabernet thrives on gravel sites and contributes structure, acidity and fragrant berry fruit notes. 

WINEMAKING Batches of hand harvested fruit was chilled overnight before processing the following day. Chilled bunches were hand sorted and de-stemmed, and whole berries were transferred to open fermenters with some foot stomping. Whole bunches were also incorporated in some of the Merlot fermenters. The berries were cold soaked before fermentation, with pumping over twice per day then pressed to barriques at the  end of fermentation. The Merlot and Cabernet matured for 21 months in new and  seasoned French oak barriques. Blended in December 2019 and bottled in January  2020, the final blend is approximately 70% Merlot and 30% Cabernet Sauvignon. 

SENSORY An elegant Merlot Cabernet blend which exhibits lifted aromatics of fragrant  berry fruits, sweet French oak, and underlying lavender and thyme. Complex and  textural, seamless tannins harmoniously support red and black fruits, earthiness,  and spice. Tautly poised to develop beautifully with bottle age.

The best parcels of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot Bordeaux varietals are selected from the Gimblett Gravels Vineyard and blended to make the richly layered and precisely constructed ‘Sophia’.

The 2018 Château de Pez Saint-Estèphe is a structured, medium-to-full-bodied Bordeaux red blend (49% Cabernet Sauvignon, 49% Merlot, 1% Cabernet Franc, 1% Petit Verdot). It offers an expressive nose of morello cherry, tobacco, and licorice, backed by a complex, silky palate of fresh blackcurrant, violet, and thyme

"Hand-harvested, de-stemmed and fermented in small parcels, then aged in French oak before being blended in the Bordeaux style.  This wine is unfined and unfiltered, so is also suitable for vegans.

Ripe blackberry, chocolate and spice on the palate, with soft tannins and a dry finish.  Can be cellared for a further 8 years."