 | The vineyard reached its present size of 65 hectares under the tenure of Dollfus, and these have a beautiful position on a slope running right down to the Gironde in the south-eastern corner of the Saint-Estèphe commune. As you travel north it is the last of the great gravel croupes which run alongside the Gironde and which have proved to be such perfect soils for the red grapes of Bordeaux. Much deeper, of course, is the clay of St Estèphe. The vines here are 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot. The mesoclimate is favourable, mainly because of the proximity of the Gironde, and the slope of the vineyard, generally allowing slightly earlier harvest here than elsewhere in the Médoc. This is done manually, with a sorting before fermentation in stainless steel with up to thirty days maceration thereafter. The wines go into oak, 70% new for eighteen months for the grand vin, Chateau Montrose (typically 19 000 cases per annum), and 20% new for twelve months for the second wine, La Dame de Montrose (typically 9 000 cases per annum), named after Yvonne Charmolüe, who ran the estate from 1944 to 1960. |