SAVE 20% - Sensational Value
Charles de Batz has one of the most impressive reputations in the Madiran.
SILVER - Decanter World Wine Awards 2007
91/100 - Wine Spectator
"The world's best value reds" - 1 of 60 by Decanter.com, 2006
DECANTER says - Rich and powerful, with concentrated flavours of mocha, dark chocolate, raspberry and dark plum. Lots of minty notes.
Rich and powerful Madiran that takes no prisoners. This wine succeeds in obtaining more fruit than tannin! The colour is nearly opaque - it doesn't get much darker than this. It displays notes of black fruit (blackcurrant and blackberry) along with just a hint of red fruit. Flavours of mocha, dark chocolate and minty notes add to the complexity of this respected Madiran.
There is a cedar-like creaminess to the oak which is extremely well-integrated. The tannins that pick up on the finish are not harsh. These tannins dissolve when the wine is matched with richly flavoured meats like leg of lamb, duck, goose or game. It also goes well with Madiran and Pyrenees style cheeses.
Serve at 17°-19°C. Drinking now and will only improve in the cellar for another 10 years.
Healthy
heart rating ♥♥♥♥♥ - vintage 2004
Read about
Domain Berthoumieu.
TERROIR: 50 year old vines, or more, planted on stony clay and silt soils.
GRAPE VARIETIES: 90 % Tannat, 10 % Cabernet sauvignon
CULTIVATION: Yields are restricted to 45 hectolitres per hectare. Typically they harvest 6 or 7 bunches only per vine, picking 90% by hand.
VINIFICATION: A green harvest is done during the summer to limit the yields to around three tons an acre. Harvest takes place late at Berthoumieu, normally around the beginning of October, completely by hand. All the grapes are first destemmed before being pressed and the juice put into fermentation vats. During this time, a bit of micro-oxygénation or microboullage takes place. The two grapes varieties are fermented separately. The maceration and the fermentation period of the TANNAT is 25 to 30 days with a daily pumping over; for the cabernet sauvignon the process lasts 12 to 15 days. After a settling period the wines are racked into oak (60%) in an underground cellar where it also undergoes malolactic fermentation. After twelve months in wood, it is blended and bottled.
AGEING: Charles de Batz is created the following February usually in the proportion of 90% TANNAT and 10% cabernet sauvignon. The wine is then aged for one year in new oak barrels before bottling the following spring.
