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Wine Description
The Story
Clos Fourtet enjoys an ideal setting, with its 47 acres of walled vineyard atop a limestone-based plateau. Clos Fourtet was sold in 2001 by the the Lurton family for just under £42 million to the Cuvelier family. By lowering yields, encouraging malolactic fermentation in stainless-steel tanks and employing less new oak, Clos Fourtet shows greater precision.
Wine Information
From January to mid-March, we had long periods of freezing temperatures, and then at the end of March it became wet and cool. April was very dry and slowed vine vegetation shooting. From June 17 until September 10 there was no rain to speak of. The features of the year’s weather were low rainfall (580 mm) and, after the flowering, dry conditions but with no extreme heat.
The vines budded quite late around April 10. But by May the growing season had made up the delay, and mid-flowering point in the Merlot vines was reached on June 4 during a period of quite cool weather, which caused some coulure (shot berries). This partly accounts for the low yields in this vintage. The ripening process was very slow and differed according to terroir, so much so that the harvesting period had to be stretched out to allow the grapes of each plot to be brought in at full ripeness.
The Merlot was picked from September 30 to October 18; the Cabernets from October 18 to 21.
Vintage 2010
Drought and cool temperatures contribute to optimal ripeness
The sum of summer temperatures in 2010 was close to that of summer 2009 (962°C compared to 982°C), but significantly colder than those of 2005, which totaled 1052°C. These cool temperatures had a substantial influence on the balance of our wines, preserving a good level of acidity and an attractive aromatic freshness.
Very little precipitation (only 267 mm) from March to August 2010 generating a drought of similar intensity to that of 2005, when only 227 mm of rain fell.
Another characteristic of the 2010 vintage is the low temperatures especially during the first three weeks of August, which allowed good acidity levels to be preserved in the grapes while maintaining an attractive aromatic freshness.