Domaine de l'Estagnère
PGI Cité de Carcassonne
The wines of the estate
History
Character & Nature
COOL AND WINDY
Languedocian, resolutely Occitan, Carcassonne is however more distant from the Mediterranean than the geography suggests. Its climate of transition between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic also has a continental influence due to its location, directly between the foot of the Pyrenees in the South and the Black Mountain in the North. Winters are harsher there than on the coast and, during the summer, the thermal amplitudes between day and night are much more sensitive. The north wind, the Cers, blows there after crossing the Montagne Noire which separates the Aude from the Tarn. Always dry, it is cold in winter and hot in summer. 130 days a year, it cleans up the vineyards, which benefit in L'Estagnère from a humid climate with rainfall all year round (except in July) due to the oceanic influence. The soils of the estate present a mosaic of clay and limestone spread over 90 hectares with a beautiful variety of choice for the grape varieties ofIGP Carcassonne, from the earliest to the latest. The oceanic climatic influence allows the Atlantic grape varieties to find their balance in L'Estagnère, especially in red, with the Cabernet Sauvignon and Franc and the Merlot.
Vinification
ALL THE FRUIT AND NOTHING BUT THE FRUIT
The sunny (more than 700 hours of sunshine per year) and windy (130 days per year on average) climate places L'Estagnère in the ideal situation to produce healthy grapes with a minimum of treatment in the vineyard. Gérard Bertrand wished to use this impeccable harvest to produce wines of the highest oenological rigour. The wines Domaine de l'Estagnère are in fact vinified and bottled without added sulphites. The winemaking is very traditional and extremely rigorous: not using SO2 (anti-oxidant and antiseptic), the oenologist has no room for error. On the other hand, SO2-free vinification allows us to obtain wines with a crunchy texture and incomparable purity of fruit. This is the whole purpose of this vinification: to reveal a completely different dimension of an impeccably ripe and deliciously expressive grape. The fruit, all the fruit and nothing but the fruit. For the reds, the Cabernet-Sauvignon, Marselan and Merlot grapes are destemmed and crushed before being placed in temperature-controlled vats. Extraction is done by pumping over, controlled during tasting. The wines are pressed and put in vats for their mal-lactic fermentation. After a light fining, the wine is bottled. In rosé, the Cabernet Franc and Caladoc grapes are harvested at night and the juice is obtained by direct pressing and the wine is bottled quickly in order to preserve its aromatic qualities. For the white, it domaine de l'Estagnère offers a blend of Chardonnay and Colombard, also harvested at night, pressed on arrival in the cellar and bottled quickly. The range is completed by a Pinot Gris, which is fermented and vinified in half new French oak barrels. During maturing, the presence of fine lees, regularly stirred, protects the wines from oxidation while bringing roundness. The wines aged in barrels and vats are blended just before bottling.
Domaine de l'Estagnère"Fortress of Taste"
occitan, estanhièro - a, craftsman tinsmith, metal worker who gives him back his youth, a place where history and earth merge, where the winemaker chisels wines that reveal Nature and invent the future.
