CHÂTEAU CROIX CARDINALE 2020

---

VINEYARD

• 5,5 hectares of surface area in production
• Density of plantation of 5400 vine / ha
• Vines are on average 50 years old
• Clay soils
• Grape composition of 85% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc

---

WEATHER CONDITIONS

2020, with its cold, rainy spring and a record dry summer, was a year of climatic contrasts.

Between March and June 2020, rainfall was double that of the same period of the year before and made mechanised work in the vineyard particularly tricky. The month of July saw no rain at all, while in August it rained just once. The weather at the end of summer was very hot, and temperatures only started to decrease as from the third week of September, when it finally rained again.

After 5 days of much-needed rain, which enabled the grapes to reach optimal ripeness, the signal was given for harvesting to start!

---

HARVEST

The plots were harvested on the 1st and 2nd of October 2020, just after a week of rain, and before the arrival of Storm Alex.

The yield is 32 hL / ha.

Production is estimated at 20 000 bottles bottles

---

VINIFICATION & AGEING

Château Croix Cardinale 2020 was entirely vinified and aged in its own cellar, renovated in 2011.
This cellar has 4 cylindrical stainless steel vats of 83 hl, 2 wine-keepers of 52 hl and a wine-keeper of 24 hl, all thermoregulated.

• Pre-fermentation cold soak lasting 4 to 5 days in order to achieve velvety tannins.
• Alcoholic fermentation lasting around ten days.
• Daily gravity-flow pump-overs, using the R’Pulse pumping-over system, which enables gentler, more even extractions.
• Warm post-fermentation maceration lasting 3 weeks

Throughout the whole of the vinifications process, we carefully respect the fruit and the balances in the wine.

The barrel cellar of Château Croix Cardinale can hold a total of 250 barrels.

We estimate an ageing time of 12 to 13 months for Château Croix Cardinale 2020, depending on the different lots. This year, we are working with 6 different cooperages.

---

TASTING

Primeurs sample blend :
87% Merlot / 13% Cabernet Franc

Potential alcoholic degree: 14°
pH : 3,67
Total acidity: 3.1

---

THE YEAR 2020 ALSO MEANS …

• The first year we were evaluated E-commited Corporate Social Responsibility Label (R.S.E.). An evaluation based on reference standard ISO 26 000, which requires us to be a responsible business wishing to be economically viable, to commit to having a positive impact on society, to caring for the environment and also to working ethically and transparently with those people we come to meet in our daily business (suppliers, internal team, clients and stakeholders in the territory).

 

• The first year we got involved with Reforest’Action, a social-purpose company, whose first mission is to create awareness of and act on behalf of the world’s forests. With them, we have therefore committed that, from the 2019 vintage onwards, each case sold will allow the planting of one tree, i.e. an average of 10,000 trees planted per year. This operation will be repeated every years.

 

• The year we had the pleasure to work with Souleymane Diamanka, Franco-Senegalese slam poet from Bordeaux, and passionate about words. The “Millésime après Millésime“ slam came about in the middle of lockdown and was built around telephone conversations between Souleymane and Caroline. It conveys in a poetical way our life as vignerons, with all its many uncertainties and hopes. Extracts from this slam will be exhibited on the walls of our cellars which are to open to the public in June 2021.