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Wine Description
The Story
Wordplay is inevitable when a wine is so well suited to it. Let us confess to a recurrent theme of ripe black and red fruits from the finest sun-drenched years. Let us confess to seductive, alluring textures on the palate with restrained opulence obtained from partial ageing in ‘cigar’ barrels. Next, let us confess to incredible tight precision, underlining the minerality of the terroir and the wine’s many complex dimensions. Finally, let’s dwell for a moment to confess the remarkable length… and let us pray for absolution, at least until the next bottle is uncorked. Château La Confession is vinified using techniques that we hold dear, with all of the care and precision that an exceptional wine demands.
Double sorting of the crop: First in the vineyard and second at the winery.
Filling of the vats without crushing. Vinification in open wooden vats of small capacity. Punching of the caps every 3 hours until 1070 of density, every 8 hours until 1040 and once a day until 1000.
Temperature during alcoholic fermentations: 26/28°C maxi
Vatting period: 24 to 27 days.
Filling of the barrels heated at the same temperature as the wine: 26/28 °C.
Malolactic fermentation in new barrels (50%) and one wine old barrel (50%).
Vintage 2003
2003 was the hottest vintage ever seen in Bordeaux. The most successful châteaux have passed their exceptional 2000s and some claim to have made their greatest wines in living memory.
Very dry and extremely hot summer days and nights (16 days > 95°F compared to 2 in 2000, 6 in 2005, 4 in 2009). Need to eliminate the superscript here. I can't figure out how to do it.) The deeply colored reds, low acidities and high tannins are a departure from the classic Left Bank profile. St.-Estèphe and Pauillac are the most successful. The reds have largely reached their peak. It remains a controversial vintage, with opinions sharply divided as to its intrinsic quality. The white grape harvest began in mid-August. Rich, fatty whites, some acidified, not for long storage.
The extreme summer heat presented winemakers with a significant challenge. Sugar levels increased dramatically in late summer as some growers took the plunge and harvested early to preserve acidity. However, winemakers who waited until their grapes were fully ripe were rewarded with rich, concentrated, dark-colored wines displaying astonishing depth of fruit and plenty of complexity.
Generally speaking, the great wines of 2003 come from the northernmost communes of the Médoc: and in particular from Pauillac and Saint-Estèphe. Highlights include Lafite, Latour, Pichon Baron, Montrose and Cos d’Estournel. Quality was more uneven in the south of the Médoc although Château Margaux, true to form, produced one of the wines of the vintage.
The right bank properties of St Emilion and Pomerol, where temperatures were even warmer, produced inconsistent wines and volumes were massively reduced. Vieux Château Certan, which usually produces 4,000 cases per year, only produced 800 last year. Estates that have resisted this model and produced exceptional wines include Figeac, Ausone, Fetyit Clinet and Angelus.
Graves and Pessac-Lèognan fared better, but many châteaux produced wines that were alcoholic and expansive, but lacked the fresh, linear fruit core that distinguished the best of 2003. The exceptions are Haut-Bailly, the powerful and concentrated Domaine de Chevalier, and of course the thoroughbred stable of wines from Haut-Brion and La Misson Haut-Brion.