Château Martinet, Saint Emilion Grand Cru 2015

This sensational Château is the home of the Pradel de Lavaux family as well as one of its crowning jewels. They have nurtured, pushed and perfected this 17-hectare estate for nearly 200 years. 

This is a red wine that will charm you with effortless yet impressive character; showing notes of black cherries, crushed forest fruits and integrated herb and both sweet and culinary spice notes it is a warming and affirming wine from the moment you open the bottle. The well-defined structure is built on juicy tannins that deliver a smooth mouthfeel and a really long finish. The structure allows it to age wonderfully and we are very glad to be able to offer this mature 2015 vintage, in pitch-perfect age and condition.

It is a Grand Cru in the oldest and best sense: coming from one contiguous set of vineyards on one property that has been farmed by the same family for centuries. You may find less expensive Grand Crus, but you won't find many that deliver at this level for this price.

The vines are almost entirely planted in sandy and gravelly soils (normally found in the Médoc), which provide excellent drainage and allow for really deep roots. The makeup of 65% Merlot and 35% Cabernet Franc gives excellent structural potential with a long harvesting window so that they can really benefit from the best that any one vintage has to offer while also mitigating any difficult weather patterns too.

The grapes are harvested entirely by hand and  are double sorted manually: in the vineyard and again in the winery. Grapes are then transferred to small, temperature-controlled vats where each plot is fermented separately in order to preserve the individual characteristics of each site. Once fermented and vatted, the wines age for between 15 and 18 months in oak barrels before being blended together to form the house style for which it is now so famous.

Shipped direct from the Château.

Gold Medal, Concours Mondial des Féminalise: the largest wine tasting comprising solely of women tasters.

This Château is owned and run by the Pradel de Lavaux family, who own numerous properties in this cluster of appellations in the right bank of Bordeaux. They are specialists in Merlot and Cabernet Franc and, in fact, only grow these two varieties in any of their estates.

Dedication to quality and a continuous family history dating back to 1740, mark out the success of this wine-making family. They manage business on several fronts, with vineyard management, wine-making and production in one area, with a brokerage wholesale and trading section on the other hand. This spreading of interests means that they stay very much in with the business of business as well as just being really good producers who happen to have a collection of seriously hot Châteaux. The negociant business is very useful for us in dealing with them as they can often have hidden gems that they may have bought from other wineries and not sold through - a bit like me! 

The history is only a feature however, as families can come and go; the dedication and constant nourishment of a singular vision is what is most impressive and has to have been established with some strength in order to have survived numerous wars, revolution, changes in fashion, climate change and still remain in tact, which it has done since the family began... twelve years before Mozart was born.