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Viinin Kuvailu
The Story
Tucked between châteaux Cos d'Estournel and Montrose, the vineyard covers 61 hectares (150 acres) and is planted with 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, and 10% Cabernet Franc. Overlooking the Gironde estuary, it is mainly located on the gravel ridge of Marbuzet and the plateau of Long Treytin. The high proportion of merlot, rather unusual in traditional blendings, as well as a long maturing in new oak barrels, greatly contribute to the mellowness of the wine. Often described as exotic or opulent, Haut-Marbuzet wines develop a suppleness and an individual expressive character that are unusual in the normally austere style of Saint-Estèphe.
A second wine is produced from the vines under 12 years old, under the label Château MacCarthy which bears the name of the Irish Jacobite family who created the vineyard.
Wine Information
No vintage in the post-World War era has a reputation as great as 1945. Its legendary status is well deserved based solely on the quality of the wines, but the fact that it is the “victory” vintage following World War II only adds to its luster. 1945 was a remarkably good vintage for virtually every wine region in the world, but it was especially great for Claret. Interestingly, the harvest in Bordeaux got underway on September 13th, the same date as the 1982 harvest began exactly 37 years later.
The top reds of Bordeaux started out with massive levels of tannin and took decades to develop. Due to the high concentration of fruit and tannin levels, many of the wines still show beautifully today.
Vuosikerta 1945
The best vintage in the world – 1947 or 1945? Tastingbook has tasted all the best wines from these two great vintages.
If wine producers from different regions were asked to name the best vintages in their wine history, most would name 1947 or 1945 as one of the greats. If we then compared them, there would probably only be one vintage that most, if not all, producers had named on the list – 1947.
We wanted to test this theory and we tasted them against each other and the winner was 1947 – by a long shot.
The 1947 vintage was a magical vintage. It goes down in history as one of the only vintages that all the well-established quality wine regions in the world were blessed with superb weather conditions. Heatwaves have been experienced all over the world and, for example, all of Europe was blazing under the blazing sun and experiencing a heatwave during the summer. This resulted in very concentrated and very ripe grapes. Growers found it difficult to handle very ripe grapes with high sugar levels because there was a constant risk of bacterial contamination in less hygienic wineries that did not have artificial cooling systems. Since there was no technology to use, many relied on huge blocks of ice to cool the room temperature and even put ice in their fermentation tanks.
This vintage has proven to produce very long-lasting wines from around the world. The wines are marked by a sweet, ripe fruit character and warming alcohol. Due to unhygienic winemaking facilities, many wines exhibit volatile characters. Some might find this a flaw, but for many mature wine lovers, this feature is even a favorite character. However, when purchasing wines from this vintage one should be aware that there is a high level of bottle variation and the risk of having highly volatile wines is remarkably high.
1945 was an exceptional year throughout France, from Côte-Rôtie to Bordeaux. Due to the hot and dry conditions, the grapes were very concentrated and produced an extraordinary, but unfortunately low, yield. The 1945 harvest was an early harvest, beginning on the same date as 1982, September 13. The wines started life with massive levels of tannin and took several decades to develop. Due to the high levels of tannins, many wines still show well today.
