Château
La Tour Carnet
Grand Cru Classé 1855
Haut-Médoc
Château
La Tour Carnet
Château La Tour Carnet is one of my greatest successes; its remarkable terroir has helped me raise the château to the rank of one of the finest wines in the Médoc. It has taken a lot of hard work to achieve this; in particular, the loving care and attention lavished on the vineyard has certainly contributed to this status.
History:
Dating back to the 12th century, the estate of La Tour Carnet is without doubt one of the oldest châteaux in the Médoc region. In the Middle Ages it was the cradle of the town of Saint-Laurent. Its architecture is purely medieval, as witnessed by the moat-encircled tower, built in 1120. The Château takes its name from the famous and valiant squire Carnet who fought at the side of Lord Jean de Foi and whose selflessness and gallantry were such that he inherited the property. The property then belonged to a series of illustrious owners, including the family of Michel de Montaigne, the eminent philosopher, man of letters and mayor of Bordeaux on two occasions. It is often said that he liked to stroll along the paths of the Château with his most loyal friend, the writer La Boétie.
Location:
Set in the heart of the Haut-Médoc, Château La Tour Carnet has an exceptional – a unique – terroir, baptised “La butte de la Tour Carnet”. The substrate is a clay base covered with limestone with asterias and a think layer of Guntzian gravel. This soil composition is particularly well-suited to the merlot grape variety. The rest of the estate is made up of the classic soils of the greatest Médoc terroirs – a layer of deep Guntzian gravel lying on a clay-limestone base.
Work on the soil:
As always, respect for the environment is fundamental here; this is why we have totally abandoned the use of weed-killer and instead adopted sown or natural grass-cover, along with ploughing.
The hugely diverse soils at Château La Tour Carnet require very strict plot-by-plot management in order to produce wines of rare quality. The power of the terroir and the kind weather conditions are not enough: to obtain great wines and to maintain their prestige, you need a combination of expertise, experience and innovative techniques. In this respect Château La Tour Carnet is somewhat ahead of its time, particularly in the extreme care and attention devoted to the potential of the vines by a number of procedures: adaptation of the pruning techniques to the needs of the vines, side-shoot removal, leaf-stripping and thinning.
Winemaking Methods:
The most traditional methods go hand-in-hand with modern techniques. The art is to combine them with finesse and discernment.
“Obviously the reputation of Château la Tour Carnet is firmly established. Vintage after vintage, loyal wine-lovers come back for more. This is the rare privilege of wines that offer charm and emotion.”
You can find and taste this wine in the Bernard Magrez shops in Paris and Bordeaux.
- Location.
- Saint-Laurent du Médoc
- Appellation.
- 4e Grand Cru Classé 1855 du Haut-Médoc
- Planting date.
- 1407
- Age of the vines.
- 30 years
- Surface area.
- 126 ha including 73 hectares of vines
- Planting density.
- 8000 to 10 000 vines per hectare
- Red grape varieties.
- 45% Cabernet sauvignon, 50% merlot, 3% Cabernet franc and 2% petit verdot
- White grape varieties.
- 45% sauvignon blanc, 15% sauvignon gris, 30% semillon
- Number of bottles produced.
- 420 000 bottles
- Contact Details
- Route de Beychevelle 33112 SAINT LAURENT DU MEDOC, France Tel: +33 (0)5 56 73 30 90
Château La Tour Carnet- Grand Cru Classé 1855 -
Cuvée Les Douves- Haut-Médoc -
