2005 Malescot St. Exupéry
France
Margaux Grand Cru Classé
Bordeaux
Red
Bordeaux Blend
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"We expected to do much less extraction during vinification but ended up raising the temperature and doing more maceration," said Jean-Luc Zuger, who harvested later than most of his neighbors (between September 28 and October 12), then chilled the arriving grapes overnight to about 40oF, which allowed for a pre-fermentation cold soak that lasted nearly a week. He was still stirring the lees when I stopped by to taste at the beginning of April. Production here was just 36 hectoliters per hectare, noted Zuger.
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As is his habit, Jean-Luc Zuger harvested later than his neighbors in 2006, with the last of the cabernet coming in on October 12. This was partly due to the fact that the estate used an anti-botrytis product very late, on September 10, as there was rain in the forecast and Zuger felt that the fruit still needed substantial hang time to achieve phenolic ripeness. Still, some of the cuves featured "somewhat cooler fruit than usual," and the pH of the 2006 Malescot will be in the relatively low 3.6 to 3.7 range. Zuger routinely uses reverse osmosis to concentrate the must, and also used a bit of saignee following the '06 harvest. Incidentally, Zuger will have a cold room in time for the 2007 harvest, which will allow him to chill all of the arriving grapes to 15oC in order to delay the onset of the fermentation.
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"I've been here for 12 years, and this is my favorite vintage," Jean-Luc Zuger told me in March. "The 2005 is better than anything my father made, and he started in 1955." Malescot harvested very late, starting the merlot only on September 29. "The low crop level of 36 hectoliters per hectare was due to the fact that there was almost no rain in Margaux during the 2005 season," Zuger noted. The blend that I tasted included no press wine and weighed in at 14+% alcohol. The wine finished its malo in December in all-new barriques, and Zuger was still stirring the lees in April. Happily for a wine so rich, the pH of 3.8 and the 3.5 grams per liter of acidity are quite reasonable in the context of recent vintages here.