Category: News

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Harvest 2020 Day 1! The first cases have just arrived at our cellar from our plots in the vineyard of Chambolle-Musigny. Beautiful maturity of the grapes, not a lot of juice but what a concentration!

Hervé Kerlann’s analysis of the harvest 2019, the winemaking and the profile of the wines

Harvest 2019 is over and now the wines are slowly ending their fermentations before we put them in barrels for the next 12 to 18 months.

This year, we have a guest of honour at Château de Laborde for our winemaking:
Peter KOFF MW came to learn the art of vinification, with Hervé KERLANN as his winemaking mentor.

Even though Masters of Wine have a tremendous knowledge about all wines and every aspects of the wine world, from viticulture to distribution, it is always a great adventure for many of them to experience real winemaking of an entire cuvée.

Peter KOFF MW has vinified a cuvée of Bourgogne Côte d’Or, the new regional appellation launched in 2017.

Under the guidance of Hervé KERLANN, Peter has learned and practiced all stages of winemaking, from grape picking and sorting to fermentation, pigeage and remontage, and ultimately entonnage, when we’ll put the wines in barrels. While winemaking is a lot of work, it was also a time of fun moments and exchange of ideas.

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L’Peter was aiming to make a “gentle wine, with a soft and silky mouth, easy to drink and enjoyable”. Coached by Hervé KERLANN, it will undoubtedly be a success!

You can follow his winemaking adventure on his page :
https://www.facebook.com/greatwinetoyou

CHÂTEAU DE LABORDE / HERVÉ KERLANN

A “wine trotter” from Britanny, raised in the Bordeaux region and who fell in love with Gevrey-Chambertin”. At first negociant, he took the plunge and is now on the other side.

Originating from Brittany, Hervé Kerlann belongs to these wine trotters whose path in life was not a straight line. The first decades are fast-paced: Africa, Denmark, London, Montreal and Vancouver, not to mention the childhood in Bordeaux: “My mother is of the Chèze family, allied by marriage to the Borie family, I am half-Corrèzian, thus cousin with some large Bordeaux wine families. “If the vocation bachique awakens quai du Priourat in Libourne, in the family business, this curious and passionate perfectionist succeeds in everything he undertakes. It is in Canada where he markets the wines of the whole world that he appreciates the wines of Burgundy. In the early 1990s, he decided to settle in Côte-d’Or with his wife, a Canadian born in India. “When I arrived at the Château de Laborde, 10 kilometers from Beaune, the buildings were in poor condition, and we had to rebuilt stone by stone.”  Distributing all the big stars of Côte-d’Or in Asia, Hervé also prides itself on winemaking while possessing a good vine-grower’s wisdom. He listens, observes and retains very quickly. At the same time merchant and owner, he loves challenges. The one started on Gevrey-Chambertin for the 2015 vintage is one of the most exciting: “I had been distributing wines from the Heresztyn estate for several years. When the two brothers, Stanislas and Bernard, retire, Bernard makes me a multi-year contract of all his grapes for his part of the estate which includes 2 hectares on Gevrey. “For three years, there has been a perfect understanding between the two men. The active retiree still oversees the cultivation of his vines placed in lutte raisonnée under the baton of Hervé Kerlann: “I almost turned to organic but the use of copper questions me, I will try the seaweed to better treat the soils, “explains the native of Brittany.

To obtain a complete phenolic maturity, keeping the grapes in vats at 13 ° C for five days seems necessary. With this temperature level, it is possible to stabilize the enzymatic phase without triggering fermentations by the yeasts. This brings complexity from the beginning of the fermentation. “I like a wine profile that is based on a natural acidity that keeps the wine alive. The tannins must be discreet and flexible, with the winemaker’s signature revealed by the finish. That’s why I do not punch the cap anymore as soon as the alcohol content of the must increases, otherwise it might extract hard, bitter aromas.

” Since 2015, five vintages of Gevrey are vinified. The range begins with Vieilles Vignes, structured and generous. This cuvée reflects the best of the assembly of Billard and Corvées high side of the national road, Croix des Champs, Fourneau, Platière and Murots of the bottom … Hervé Kerlann innovates by vinifying two parcellaires of “village” which did not exist within the Heresztyn domain. The tasting benefits seems obvious: “On the lower slope, En Derée, just below Champeaux and En Champs, near the cemetery, shines thanks to its vines over 70 years.” The wine is powerful with a strong character. Aux Etelois is one of the few Climat known to touch the grand cru Griottes Chambertin. We appreciate its subtlety and its minerality blooming with finesse. On these two new cuvées, the neo-Burgundian has just started experimenting whole-bunch fermentation in 2017.

 The Premier Crus then enter the scene. Separated from the famous Combe au Moine by a path, Les Goulots, a Climat in altitude, requires more time to mature. It reveals an elegant sap with a good aging potential: “I was charmed during my first vinification by its aromas of wild mint.” Touching the Mazis-Chambertin north, Les Corbeaux, despite the difficulty of cultivation there, is a total success: its mid-palate is worthy of a Grand Cru. Over the years, Hervé Kerlann refined his style. Its 2016 looks great and 2017 has a finesse worthy of praise. Wines which will definitely make the Correzians cousins ​​of Bordeaux blush with envy.

DENIS HERVIER

[translated from French]

In his report of the 2017 vintage for the magazine Gourmet Traveller Wine, World renowned Master of Wine Tim Atkin has placed Château de Laborde as one Top Producer to Watch, among a list of 25 other rising stars of Burgundy!

A true honor for our winery, and a great reward for our hard work of these past years!

Read the full article here:
https://app.gourmettravellerwine.com/editions/april-may-19/article/burgundy-2017-world-wine.html

The harvest and winemaking is over at Chateau de Laborde
The harvest started on the Domaine on Monday, August 27. We started earlier than most of our fellow vine-growers, because our analysis of the grapes showed an already great alcoholic potential. While of course we needed well-matured grapes, our aim in harvesting not too late was to keep a good freshness in the wines.

We were expecting a lot from the harvest 2018, and it did not let us down. The crop was in perfect health condition, and very well matured. Quantity for this vintage is also there, as it was everywhere in Burgundy: a great news for the wines of Chateau de Laborde, and the region in general.

This year, we have incorporated around 15 to 20% of whole bunches for the fermentation of red wines, to get even more elegance and aromatic power. Only the ripest stems were kept, with a strict sorting by hand, to ensure the extraction of a maximum of aromas but no harshness.

With a great natural alcoholic potential, extraction of aromas and color was really easy this year, with almost no pumping over needed and few pigeages (punching down).

The last wines were put into barrel mid-October. The barrels are now in our maturation cellar, where they will stay for the next 12 to 18 months.

See you in 2019 to taste the first white wines of 2018!

Hervé Kerlann takes on Château de Laborde image for his new labelling: a new page is open

For the past several years, our wines have been awarded dozens of gold medals and tremendous reviews by the most prominent wine reviewers and magazines (Wine Enthusiast, Neal Martin, Decanter, Bettane & Desseauve, Tim Atkin, Guide Hachette, Concours de Paris, …). After achieving this level of excellence in the quality of the wines, we needed to take our products to even higher heights. Therefore, we have decided to improve our labels.
Our wines will now be focused on two main label designs, both reflecting the typicity of each wine category:

Terroir Wines will now be labeled with a refined and stylized design, highlighting the beautiful Château de Laborde. With this new packaging, these great wines will enter into a whole new era.

Innovative Wines will be bottled with a resolutely modern label, to reflect our ambition to present high-end, trendy cuvees in regional Burgundian AOCs and original “Vin de France” wines, like our surprising “Blanc de Pinot Noir” or the unexpected “Rosé de Blanc”.