Intergalactic Edition

In 2020, the perfectly aligned planets brought about favourable weather conditions to combine with precision tools to produce an immense wine –the first to be entirely vinified in the estate’s new cellars and the Decoster family’s 20^th vintage. Vinification, tasting and inspiration(s) -everything conspired to turn this 3rd collector’s edition into an epic adventure in space.  The wine produced in 2020 marked the Grand Cru’s departure towards a new signature. With this limited release of 2,000 magnums, the knight and the world of Fleur Cardinale have taken on a new form.

The idea of the theme germinated at the beginning of 2021, then blossomed with the events that took place over the year.

In February, marking a major advance in the history of space adventure, the Mars ‘Perseverance’ rover entered into Mars’s atmosphere.

In April, Thomas Pesquet made his preparations for going into space. Meanwhile, far from the excitement of this departure, alone among the alignments, vignerons were keeping an eye on the imminent threat of frost. As they scanned the skies, their minds wandered as they thought about the preparations of this French astronaut, who had been called upon to head up the ISS team. In the silence of these freezing nights in the vineyards, surrounded by anti-frost towers that resembled launch-pads, their imaginations took off. Space aspirations and earthly realities merged. On the frontier between the infinitely great and the infinitely small, the idea of this extra-terrestrial theme took root.

In November, NASA launched with DART its very first space defence mission to counter asteroids. And in December, the James Webb telescope, the largest space telescope ever designed, was launched. These events out in space helped complete our 2020 theme among the stars.

The cosmos features on the numbered bottle labels. Through different nuances, the identity of Fleur Cardinale mutates. The knight turns into an astronaut. Beamed up into space, with his fingers in a V sign, he is promoting peace. The shield mounted with a rocket symbolising a new departure for the Château, also conceals the Blob: a nod to the French astronaut’s companion on his journey. This slime mould, which is still shrouded in mystery, is single-celled, like the yeasts which transform sugar into alcohol.

The C of Cardinale has become a crescent of the moon, the vignerons’ precious star which guides their vine-growing practices. As for the two aliens which are poking their heads out from behind each side of the shield, they convey the presence of a lingering doubt: do vineyards exist in other galaxies, or is wine-growing confined purely to earth?

On tasting the wine, this vintage, which is destined to be opened in a different time and place belonging to at least the next decade or even the following one, shows great freshness and an explosion of fruit, which pans out over the whole palate in a multi-dimensional movement with different layers of complexity.

All the technical elements specific to the 2020 vintage are available on the page dedicated to Château Fleur Cardinale 2020.

• Blending : 77% Merlot, 18% Cabernet Franc, 5% Cabernet Sauvignon

Château Fleur Cardinale 2020 displays a very bright, deep purple colour with purple-blue glints. The nose reveals multi-facetted fruit aromatics of great purity. In mouth, the entry is clean and dense and gives way to a majestic palate, in which the mid-palate is remarkably structured with precise fruit showing through, together with both controlled aromatic power and a lovely delicate mouth-feel.

The subtlety in this vintage comes from the combined oak and amphora ageing, which comes through very discreetly, offering tannins of incredible quality and bringing great elegance to the whole. Both fleshy and of great finesse, the wine lingers long on the palate. This vintage offers superb ageing potential.

The intergalactic magnums come in a serigraphed wooden case which illuminates the cellars with its phosphorescent features. Depicting Aquarius, Taurus, Gemini and Libra, the coat of arms is framed with the constellations of the zodiac of the members of the Decoster family, which celebrates with this 2000 vintage its 20 years at Fleur Cardinale.

The team celebrates the 20th vintage of Château Fleur Cardinale in that video produced in our cellars, for the launch of the Intergalactic Edition.

Through this Intergalactic Edition, we decided to lend our support to the ‘Décrochons La Lune’ association, created in the summer of 2021 by friends and the parents of Gaspard, a young boy with a brain stem glioma, a very invasive type of cancer.

While Gaspard passed away on 21st December 2021, his parents have since remained very active within the association, whose aim is to improve the everyday quality of life of any children suffering from serious illness, most especially childhood cancer, to help in their fight against the disease and to make their inclusion in society easier, both at school and in sports and cultural activities.

To help this cause, we have decided, among other things, that 1 euro will be paid to the association for each case of Intergalactic Edition sold.

If you wish to make an extra donation, please log on to Décrochons La Lune. Also, either as a business or privately, do not hesitate to contact the association if you have ideas to put forward that would bring back the smiles on the faces of the children and their families.

Until you receive or buy your magnums, immerse yourself in the atmosphere of the Intergalactic Edition by listening a playlist of 12 tracks, carefully selected by Caroline !

Château Fleur Cardinale 2020 Intergalactic Edition has been sold through our Bordeaux wine merchants, who in turn have offered it to their customers (professionals or individuals) in France and abroad. Depending on your place of residence, we advise you to contact our retailers, whose non-exhaustive list can be consulted here.

You can already find it on sale on some online wine websites :

• 20h33 : 06.86.45.06.48
• Ariès Vins / 05.56.21.30.70
• Jean-Merlaut / 05.57.97.77.35
• La Cave Crus / 01.45.08.51.01
• Millésima / 05.54.53.00.17
• Wine and Co / 0.800.1000.20