COMTE de Dauzac

The 2022 vintage will be remembered by all. The particularly mild winter led to a very early budburst. Frosts were avoided during the cool nights of April. Flowering began around May 15th in ideal weather conditions, but the end of flowering was marked by violent storms. This last rainy episode then gave way to a very hot and dry summer. The drought was the most concerning element of this vintage. August only rain helped the vines to complete their veraison. The overall yield was small due to the lack of water but the quality is oustanding.

One vintage follows another but no two are alike. The 2021 vintage called for a lot of patience and commitment. We worked relentlessly to protect our vines from disease pressure. The vintage began by an especially mild and rainy winter. Bud break was uniform and occured early but the extra-cold and rainy spring meant that the head start was soon lost. During the spell of frost in April, Château Dauzac’s vineyards were protected due to their proximity to the Gironde estuary, which acts as a natural thermal regulator. Flowering began around May 25th in ideally warm and dry weather. June was especially rainy, with approximately 127% more rain than avarage. At times, the rain had an impact on flowering, with traces of coulure (also know as shatter) and millerandage.

The cold and damp summer called for watchfulness at all times. Mildew pressure increased and was more intense. Preventing the mildew from developing turned out to be one of the summer’s main goals. Veraison was delayed due to the lack of sun while temperatures remained cool and below average. We will have to wait until between August 15th and 20th to observe a homogeneous veraison. The harvest began on September 22nd with our earliest Merlot plots and ended on October 13th with our great Cabernet Sauvignons, which were able to take advantage of the sunny days after the rainy spell in early October. Plotby-plot selection and meticulous sorting of the grapes harvested allowed for high-quality winemaking. The mature balances are reminiscent of the past century’s great vintages: aromas of crisp fruit, lots of subtlety and great length on the palate. It has the freshness and structure that have made Bordeaux wines so famous.

The months of March and April were quite mild, encouraging dynamic, early budburst about two weeks ahead of time. Mechanical soil tillage in the spring stimulated the vine to develop its root system in depth, allowing the plant to resist drought. An essential agronomical factor this year that enabled well-structured ripeness. Flowering occurred between May 25th and June 1st. The warm, dry summer which followed led to excellent grape ripeness. The lack of rainfall brought about a slight water deficit, a situation that created natural concentration with ripeness evolving nicely until harvest time.

The 2019 vintage was subjected to certain weather conditions, which led us to spending more time in the vineyards. Fortunately, our team know-how and farmer wisdom allowed us to see this nice vintage through successful- ly. After a winter back-and-forth between mild and cold spells, bud break came fairly early. Our phytosanitary practices in the vineyards are inspired by biodynamics with the use of local plants. Flowering occurred quickly thanks to the mild weather in late May and early June. However, rainfall disrupted the smooth development of the flowering on the Merlot grapes, triggering a little coulure (also known as shatter) and millerandage, leading to looser, less compact bunches, and lowering the yield in favour of quality.

Then in late June and into July, a heatwave settled across southwestern France. The heatwave, coupled with a slight lack of water, caused the vines to develop minor water stress, beneficial for stopping growth and conducive to grape ripeness. In late July, bunches in the vineyards were thinned out by our teams to eliminate the unbalanced berries and make veraison more consistent. Harvesting began on September 17th and ended on October 10, 2019. In compliance with the biodynamic calendar, the grapes were harvested on fruit days for grand terroir wines as has been the case for the past several vintages.In addition,plot-by-plot selection was optimised using a Bacchimeter.

After a rather dry and sunny winter, the month of March was mild, causing the first vine leaves to appear very early. The heavy spring frost in the Bordeaux region at the end of April spared all of Château Dauzac’s vineyards with their bench of gravel located near a river. There were mild temperatures in May, with rapid and even flowering at the end of the month.

The summer, with average temperatures, was marked by a water deficit. The first rainfalls in September were worrisome but once again, Château Dauzac’s geographic location between a river and forest which causes air to flow through clouds limited rainfall during harvesting. The harvest was rapid: we started the Merlot on 14 September and ended the Cabernet Sauvignon on 4 October. The harvest was highly homogeneous with impressive maturity. Careful intra-plot selection work resulted in high-precision vinification.