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Wine Description
The Story
Château La Lagune is a 3éme Cru Classé property that produces some of the finest wines in the Haut-Médoc AC. La Lagune's history dates back to 1715 when its handsome château was constructed. The vineyards were first planted in 1724.
La Lagune had hit hard times and fallen into disrepair when Georges Brunet bought it in 1954. He replanted the vineyards and totally renovated the chai. By the time he sold it to the Ayala Champagne firm in 1961, the property had been transformed.
In 1999 the Frey family took over the estate and have worked hard to shift the wine style of Chateau La Lagune to more elegant and refined in style by reducing the use of new oak and focus on enhancing the fruit quality on their vineyards.
The Freys (who also own Paul Jaboulet Aine in the Rhone) have a habit of changing the fortunes of floundering wineries with excellent terroir by focusing on the inherent quality and investing in the winery and vineyard. Caroline Frey has worked for many years to put in place a viticultural process that respects the environment, based on organic and biodynamic agriculture. This natural approach, which is adapted for every single parcel, plays a fundamental role in the quality of the wines.
In the same spirit of excellence as they produce their flagship wine, the property also produces a second wine, called ‘Moulin de La Lagune’, and, since 2004, a third cuvée called ‘Mademoiselle L’. Planted on one of the most perfect gravelly ridges in the region, the La Lagune vineyard covers 80 hectares, where Caroline has been working for many years to establish environmentally friendly viticulture, based on practices from organic and biodynamic agriculture. It is above all a question of preserving the terroirs, soils and vines, but also the health of the winegrowers who work there. The official switch to organic conversion was initiated in 2013, with certification planned for the 2016 harvest. This natural approach, adapted to each plot, plays a fundamental role in the quality of the wines. It allows the fruit to draw from the soil all the complexity and finesse of a terroir, to restore them to us, thanks to patient and precise vinification and aging in barrels using the traditional method.
La Lagune is the first property you pass driving out of Bordeaux on the Route de Vins. It is in fact only 15 kilometres from Bordeaux city. There are 72 hectares of vineyards planted with Cabernet Sauvignon (60%), Merlot (20%), Cabernet Franc (10%), and Petit Verdot (10%). The grapes are fermented in temperature-controlled, stainless steel tanks and the wine is then aged in oak barriques from which 50-80% are new for 15-18 months.
Vintage 2020
In Bordeaux, the heat resulted in early flowering. Also, this led to an early harvest after a very hot summer. As a starting point, there is great maturity in the grapes, and one can expect a more opulent vintage than in the last few years.
The summer this year has been the warmest since 1959, yet the rain has fallen at the right times during the growing season. The harvest took place two weeks before the norm and will yield grapes with high potential alcohol and the lowest acidity since the 2003 vintage. As they say in Bordeaux: "It has been a good and extreme growing season which hopefully also produces great wines".
