Château Séraphine 2023
“Coffee bean and sweet spice top notes. Intense, textured, well made. Notes of iodine, dark chocolate, and blackberry layered tannins, stylish use of oak. A classy, refined, well-balanced Merlot with impressive underlying drive and texture and a lingering finish. Good structure and backbone. Will age well. Bravo!”
— Tim Atkin MW
Tasting Note
An intense deep red, almost black in colour, the wine opens with a fine elegant nose of fresh black cherries, elderberries and blackcurrants overlaid by perfumed aromas of incense, cloves spices, and softly textured toasted new oak notes.
On the palate, it displays a further register of lush black fruits of blueberries, plums, and cassis with hints of violets, dark chocolate and rich Havana tobacco that combine nicely with more savoury elements of liquorice, cedar wood and vanilla over a compelling core of finely delineated velvety merlot fruit.
There is also a fine and marked length with good tension and supporting acidity that leads to silky and soft polished tannins with a pleasing long velvety finish.
Martin Krajewski - Proprietor
Vineyard
Chateau Séraphine has an overall planted surface of just 2.2 hectares and is split into two parcels of vines. We have 1 hectare of vines at Plince situated on a well-draining slope of sandy topsoil over clay and deep gravels and 0.4h of this plot was replanted with Cabernet Franc in April 2017 at 8000 vines p/h.
The other block is at Mazeyres and is also laid out in two distinct sections where the first part consists of a raised deposit of deep gravels of 0.6h that was replanted in 2021 with Merlot vines at 6600 plants p/h. The second part sits on a gently sloping 0.6h and is a patchwork of shallow sandy soils over gravels and blue clay and was replanted with Merlot in April 2017 at 8,000 vines per/h. We work exclusively by horse for all our soil works including under row ploughing and tilling and employ eco-friendly viticultural practices.
Vinification
One day of cold soak (10°C) followed by alcoholic fermentation (26°C) for 7 days with regular ‘remontage’.
Post fermentation extended maceration (28°C) for 3 weeks followed by malolactic fermentation in 300L new oak barrels as well as amphora. After malolactic fermentation was complete, the wine was racked off its lees into barrel (45% new, 55% second/third-fill) where it will now age for the
next 12-14 months.
We also filled a 1000L clay amphora by gravity with Cabernet Franc from our 7-year-old vines at Plince and directly from the sorting table using a small conveyor. Then following the completion of the fermentation, the wine was racked and returned to the Amphora for ageing for a further 12-14 months. Malo in barrel and clay amphora.
Grape Variety: 95% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc
Alcohol: 14% by volume
RS: Less than 2 g/l
Production: 4000 bottles
Harvest Notes 2022
January roared in with a 20°C afternoon high, but that soon changed to sub-zero month end lows which flowed on well into February and the same freezing conditions continued in early March, although as the mercury steadily rose to 27°C by month end, it looked certain we were in for an early bud burst.
However, just as April arrived everything suddenly turned as Mother Nature’s icy hand appeared and the night-time temperatures drastically plummeted to below zero. Fortunately, our anti-frost turbines & candles were already in the vines and so despite the thermometer falling dangerously low on both mornings of 4th and 5th April we did not encounter any damage.
The weather then steadily improved and as May arrived so did long sunny days that subsequently led to a very successful flowering and fruit set, although there was a period of wet and humid weather in late June when the potential of mildew was ever present and required greater care and attention in the vines.
Following on, the summer temperatures were generally cooler than last year, although they still regularly hit 30°C in August, but overall conditions remained favourable all the way through the rest of the growing season.
We finally commenced harvest on 8th September under sunny blue skies and picked the old merlot vines at Plince and then carried on that afternoon with the young cabernet franc at Mazeyres. The next morning, we continued with the Merlot at Mazeyres but in two careful selections; the first part involved the interior vines which will feature in the Grand Vin and then the exterior vines which produced another healthy yield for L’innocence de Séraphine.