Appellation : AOC Fronsac Owner : Constance & Stéphane DROULERS Adress : SCEV Haut-Carles F-33141 SAILLANS Phone : (33) (0)5 57 84 32 03
Fax : (33) (0)5 57 84 31 91 Contact name : Constance & Stéphane DROULERS Grape varieties: 95% Merlot, 20%, Malbec/Cabernet Franc, 5% Soiltype : mostly small hills facing east and south, chalky clay or silicious clay soils Winemakingtechniques: the fruit is poured into collectors and fully destemmed. Fermentation and vatting are traditional and temperatures are controlled. The process lasts from 20 to 25 days.
Yield: 35 to 40 hectolitres per hectare, depending on the capabilities of each plot. The vine stalks are thinned out and leaves removed in two or three operations.
Harvesting : Manual, when the fruit is at its best degree of ripeness. The grapes are picked in 48 hours.
Running off : The wine is run directly off into oak casks, before the malolacti fermentation, which therefore takes place in wood, of which at least half is renewed yearly.
Ageing: The wines are aged in oak casks for 18 months in a temperature controlled cellar. Only the strict minimum of sulphur is used. Racking is carried out the without pumps. The wines are bottled with no fining or filtration.
Annual production : 20,000 to 25,000 bottles Visits : With appointment, please Call or Email us before coming The Haut-Carles is an aristocratic mansion built in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, which is steeped in history. It is a fortified residence, built on one of Fronsac’s three hills, the very one chosen by the future Charlemagne, who built a fort on it during his conquest of Aquitaine. The two literary giants, Montaigne and La Boétie used to meet there, and in the eighteenth century the Château belonged to the beautiful marquise de Boufflers, a celebrated wit and friend of Voltaire and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The estate, which is set in the heart of a 20-hectare vineyard on the clay and limestone hills that overlook the isle Valley, has selected the best of the land, ideally exposed, and for the most part planted with Merlot. This is were Haut-carles grows. For the past hundred years, it has belonged to the Chastenet de Castaing family. Their daughter Constance and her husband Stéphane Droulers, have been in charge of the estate since 1993. With passionate determination they have taken in the challenge of returning the estate to its former glory and producing a great wine, which will be the reference of the area.
Hard pruning, grassing between the rows, cutting out some fruit when still green to limit yields, are all examples of the careful vineyard management techniques that are worked out for each individual plot, so that, come harvest time, the armies of pickers find perfectly ripe, healthy grapes. The fruit is nevertheless thoroughly sorted before being carried to the vathouse.
Haut-Carles wines are matured in cellars designed and equipped to allow the characteristics of this great vineyard to be expressed to the full.
Constance and Stéphane Droulers invite you to get to know their wine, whose recent exceptional vintages delight the most demanding connoisseurs. Download PDF documents Contact | Visit our website : www.haut-carles.com