Not counting the work we performed in the vineyards, we sorted three times. By hand before the grapes were received at the reception area, optical sorting and one more hand sorting before being fermentation to produce the best 2011 Bordeaux wine possible.
Jean Claude Berrouet and Stephane Derenoncourt both bring a lot of experience to Clos Fourtet. And all of us, including Tony Ballu work well together.”
Starting with the 2011 Bordeaux vintage, 40% of the wine is now being whole-berry fermented in 600% hectoliter barrels. According to Juliette Becot, this adds richness and opulent textures to Beau-Sejour Becot.
The early work in the vineyards and the sorting took the most effort. We needed to do it on a plot-by-plot basis for all our wines so we could produce the best wines possible in the difficult 2011 Bordeaux vintage.
The key to our 2011 Bordeaux wine was waiting until October 8 to harvest the Cabernet Franc. In fact, we were one of the last to harvest Cabernet Franc in St. Emilion.
With all the talk about 2011 Bordeaux futures, it’s easy to forget that the one of the best things about Bordeaux wine, is the numerous estates making great wine that sell for fair amounts of money, age well and they are easy to find.
