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Chateau Gazin - Nicolas and Christophe de Bailliencourt dit Courcol
 The
2005 harvest at Chateau Gazin -
Pomerol
- is over
Chateau Gazin - Tuesday, October 4, 2005
The 2005
harvest, in Gazin, has been completed, as well as in most of the Pomerol appellation wineries. The grapes picking have just started in Saint-Emilion and in the Medoc.
As usual, I am going to tell you that this
vintage at Chateau Gazin is superb, better than the 2004, and even better than the overrated 2003, as well better than the 2002 (which is quite understandable according to the bad weather conditions we got during that summer). Indeed, this 2005
at Chateau Gazin could be the best one since 1982. Some people think of the 1989
Chateau Gazin
vintage. Wait and see. What is sure is that this millesime
at Chateau Gazin has got off to a good start ! (Don’t worry about the 2004. It is still keeping good promise to be a great
vintage as well).
You wonder why ? We started, at Chateau Gazin, the
green harvest at the beginning of July. The
yield is weak, below 40hl -may be 35hl- (compared with the 47hl per
hectare allowed, for this
vintage, by the administration). But, at Chateau
Gazin we will have to wait till the end of the
rackings to see which figure is the good one. During summer the weather conditions
at Chateau Gazin were excellent, with a precocious flowering (first flower on May the 23rd !) followed by a véraison (when the bunches are suddenly turning read because of a
sugar migration into the grapes), which ended early August. During this period rainfalls occured on due time to « refresh » the vines. 2005
at Chateau Gazin is a dry year with less than 400mm of rain, so far. This drought was only a problem for the corn producers !
Early September (on the 9th and 10th) worrying heavy rainfalls occured, but the downpour stopped on Sunday.
At Chateau Gazin, the
harvest started on September 12th under drizzly weather. Then the sun came again for the whole period… And it is still there. The
Merlots
harvest at Chateau Gazin was completed on September 20th together with the cabernets francs. The Cabernet Sauvignon were harvested on September 26th. The grapes,
at Chateau Gazin, are full
ripe (which does not mean over’ripe), with a good
acidity level. The
Chateau Gazin wine is well
balanced and full bodied which is a must to make a great wine when you have a natural 13.5 degree. (Our wines,
at Chateau Gazin, normally reach 12.5 degree). The sorting tables were not really useful except to remove some leaves and stones sticked to the bottom of the picking baskets.
Presently, at Chateau Gazin, the vats offer a delicious
nose of
fresh and
ripe fruit. The color is superb and, after several pumping overs,
already inky. The point is now how to keep this wine its
freshness, its complexity and avoid an «overjammed » blackcurrant and cherry wine. Indeed,
at Chateau Gazin, we know that such wines please the tasters when showing them, as futures, in March, but are not ageing well. This means they do not have the
structure to age properly and are not getting more and more complexity as ageing… showing only
oaky
fragrances and offering tasteless
fatty mouth. At Chateau Gazin, the malolatic fermentation started, for the first
Merlots vats, in a set of new casks. By mid November we will know the truth about the 2005 quality.
Nicolas and Christophe de Bailliencourt dit Courcol, Chateau
Gazin
http://www.chateau-gazin.com/
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