Chateau Argadens Bordeaux.

Since it acquired Château d'Argadens, Maison Sichel has put in place a vast renovation program, with the aim of making the wine a benchmark within the Bordeaux category. After 12 months in oak barrels, d'Argadens red is a thoroughly modern Bordeaux with lots of concentrated fruit and an attractive, supple balance. Not surprisingly, it gets consistently high marks in tastings and competitions. Château d'Argadens also makes a white wine.

The original name of this property, parts of which date back to the 12th and 16th centuries, was La Salle d'Argadens. It became Château d'Argadens in 2002, when it was bought by Maison Sichel. Sichel's aim in acquiring d'Argadens was quite simply to see it express the full potential of its wonderful terroir and become one of the benchmark properties in the Bordeaux Supérieur category. To achieve this, the company has invested heavily in terms of finance, time and technology. Sichel's first vintage at the estate was 2002.

Covering 45 hectares of clay-limestone soil in a single plot, Argadens is superbly well situated on one of the highest hills of the rolling Entre-Deux-Mers wine region (one of the five highest points, in fact, of the Gironde). The vineyard is thus extremely well-drained and extremely well exposed to the sun and the air.

The date of harvesting is determined plot by plot, according to how the grapes taste, and picking by hand means that only the best berries are selected. The alcoholic fermentation takes place in temperature-controlled 210hl stainless steel vats. Post-fermentation maceration and malolactic fermentation are also done in vat. Once the wines have been pressed (pneumatic press), they are put into French oak barrels (25% of which are new) for 12 to 14 months and racked frequently. Before bottling, they are fined and lightly filtered.

SURFACE - 45 hectares of which 42 produce red wine

AVERAGE AGE OF VINES - 30 years

GRAPE VARIETIES - Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Cabernet Franc

TASTING NOTES - With its dark, almost black, garnet hue, Château Argadens 2010 is beautiful to behold. The nose offers an intense, complex array of aromas with toasty notes from the oak underpinning ripe fruit and spicy notes setting off the whole. An impressively ample palate, rich, with soft, elegant tannins and a very, very long finish – a very fine Bordeaux without any doubt.

AGEING - To drink from 2014.

MEDALS & AWARDS

Siver medal - Concours de Bordeaux 2012

Bronze medal - Concours Général Agricole - Paris 2012