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Wine Description
The Story
The work in the vineyard at Rauzan-Ségla is carried out plot by plot, plant by plant. The harvest is performed with the same painstaking care as the other tasks throughout the year. Each step is approached with the same attention to detail, from the picking to the production of the new wine.
Each vintage must be considered unique and be treated as such, demanding a renewed attention and making any attempt at an annual routine quite impossible. At Rauzan Ségla, nothing is left to chance, adapting to each year’s weather conditions and bringing out the best characteristics of the vintage. Not a day goes by without the technical team roaming up and down the rows of vines, tasting the grapes and judging their readiness. It is their expert palates that will dictate the harvest dates for each plot. This decision is primordial and carries with it the very style of the property. Precision and delicatesse are required if we are to pick grapes that are both ripe and fresh-tasting. When the signal is finally given the grapes are picked by hand with the greatest care. After a first selection by the picker, the bunches are placed in small six-kilo individual crates to avoid any crushing. They are then transported to the cellar to be sorted.
Vintage 2000
Weather conditions / The 2000 vintage was proclaimed from the start as one of the best vintages of modern times. In the spring of 2003, I had many opportunities to find out if we really had a true dream vintage on our hands.
During the 2000 harvest, while doing a “personal inspection” in the vineyards, I noticed that something extraordinary was on the way. The grapes looked extremely healthy.
While the sorting table was rolling, I observed that there were few leaves, stems and weeds among the grapes. This is why sorting the grapes was so easy and quick. This must be one of the characteristics of the 2000 vintage, because normally even great vintages require a lot of work at the sorting table.
The 2000 vintage is a classic, extravagant and extremely long Bordeaux with dark and extremely dense wines, which have a huge concentration of fruit, length and superbly concentrated tannins. The tannin is not allowed to dominate, as it is well enveloped by the fruit. A scent of under-ripeness is only present in a few wines. One of the hallmarks of this vintage is an intense, deep aroma of dark berries, such as blueberries, blackberries and black cherries.
All red grape varieties have reached perfect maturity, including Bordeaux's most temperamental and unruly grape variety, Petit Verdot. Petit Verdot brings to wines the long-awaited addition of backbone and power.
Additionally, the grapes for whites, such as Sauvignon Blanc, Sémillon and Muscadelle, ripened perfectly and produced extremely fine dry white wines. The sweet white wines have unfortunately transformed into some light, elegant and charming wines, based 100% on the September harvest. From October 11, it rained a lot in Bordeaux and this continued until the end of the year.