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Wine Description
The Story
Château de Malle was owned by the Lur Saluces family (previous owners of d`Yquem) from 1702 through to 1950. Château de Malle is now owned by the Comtesse de Bournazel, who took up the reins after the premature death of her husband in 1985. This large 2ème Cru Classé estate consists of 55 hectares of vineyards, of which 27 hectares are found in the communes of Preignac and Fargues in Sauternes.
Château de Malle's wine is typically a blend of 75% Sémillon and 25% Sauvignon Blanc. The grapes are hand-harvested in several "tries" and are then fermented, with the wine then being matured in small oak casks (33% new) for 30 months.
Each grape variety is vinified separatly.
The pressuring is direct and the settling of must need about 10 hours. Then the lees are reintroduced before the fermentation starts in french oak barrels with 1/3 new each year.
Toppings up are made regularly and the rackings done every three months.
The wine is agedin french oak barrels for between 2 or 3 years after the harvest.
Vintage 1990
Early, uniform flowering, a hot but unspectacular summer and an exceptionally hot period at the end of August 1990 and the first half of September. It was this heat that allowed the record harvest not only to fully ripen, but also to concentrate the fruit. Harvesting began on September 14 and was completed before the start of heavy rains on October 2. Another reason for the success of the vintage was that most châteaux had invested in their cellars and were able to work with such a large and hot harvest. It was now possible to control fermentation temperatures better than in previous warm vintages, such as 1947. The grapes produced wines with such a high level of natural alcohol that chaptalization became unnecessary. They showed deep color, high and unusually sweet tannin levels and better acidity than expected, as well as great concentration of fruit. The hype was great, particularly thanks to the advent of new wine magazines - this was the vintage that cemented Robert Parker's reputation. Prices rose quickly and haven't looked back since. I remember that all Premiers Crus (including Pétrus) were offered to end consumers for around 50 euros en primeur in 1983.
The scene of the arrival of the 1990 vintage was quite different. There was a surplus of very good to great wine on the market – for the first time, there was talk of three great vintages in succession. This led most châteaux to drop their prices by around 20% from their 1989 prices, even though the quality was exceptional. There had been a steady increase in prices during the 1980s, but they had now more or less returned to the opening prices of the 1982s. This was again a record harvest, but as most châteaux had already introduced a "second wine" and were more selective regarding quality, there was actually less wine bottled under the name "Grand Vin" than in 1982.
We have been following these two vintages since they were young, as they were both precocious and easy to drink from the start. The best wines from both vintages are spectacular, but the overall quality is much higher in 1990. Here, the wines have been equally successful on both sides of the river, and even the small châteaux have produced something special. We always found most Right Bank 1982s to be overly alcoholic and lacking in structure; Indeed, many age quickly.