Château Sansonnet

Château Sansonnet is located to the north-east of Saint-Emilion, at the top of the clay-limestone plateau, in the heart of the Grands Crus Classés region, next to Châteaux La Couspaude, Trotte vieille and Haut-Sarpe. This exceptional terroir consists of a thin layer of clay over limestone. The vineyard extends over 7 hectares in a single block around the property, and for more than 10 years has been the subject of a vast improvement programme (regular but carefully considered uprooting, rigorous cultural monitoring, changes to the height of the trellising, etc.). In September 2012, Château Sansonnet joined the very select circle of Saint-Emilion Grands Crus Classés. The vineyard, which is constantly being rebuilt, has an average age of 35 years. The density of the vines increases with each new planting. The soils are worked. The vineyard is managed in the way required to obtain top-quality grapes. De-budding, manual leaf thinning in two stages and thinning out are all part of the work carried out to ensure perfect control of ripeness and yields. To protect the environment, the use of plant protection products is largely rational. The grapes are harvested exclusively by hand. The grapes are picked in crates to prevent them from being crushed or damaged. When the harvest is received, the bunches are sorted first and then the berries. The berries are sorted by densimetry to ensure that only those with optimum ripeness are kept. The berries are then gravity-fed whole into each vat. The vat room is made up of small thermo-regulated stainless steel vats with double truncated cone-shaped walls and small thermo-regulated wooden vats. The berries are first kept for a few days at 5°C (cold pre-fermentation maceration, which facilitates the subsequent extraction of colour and aroma precursors). During alcoholic fermentation, the vats are pigmented. Malolactic fermentation takes place in new French oak barrels in an air-conditioned, humidity-controlled cellar. The wine is then matured for 12 to 18 months, depending on the vintage, under the supervision of Jean-Philippe Fort.