Our wines

Our wines come from Merlot and Cabernet-Sauvignon grapes, and are the result of a rigorous plot selection.

After leaf-stripping in July, which has become less and less necessary because of increasing summer heat over the past few years, we examine each plot in order to make our three main wines:

Château Les Rousseaux on young plots yielding about 50-55 hectoliters per hectare in order to produce a supple and fruity wine with round tannins

Château Cap Saint Martin tradition on a large selection of plots (being the most important part of the estate’s production) yielding about 50-55 hectoliters per hectare in order to produce a fruity wine with well-structured tannins and which you can keep at least for five years.

Château Cap Saint Martin Cuvée prestige on older and/or denser plots (6,000 plants/hectare) yielding about 40 hectoliters per hectare in order to get a more complex wine with structured tannins and which you can keep for at least eight years.

In 2017, we created a 100% Cabernet Sauvignon vintage which was aged in oak barrels for a year. This is due to a more important presence of this grape variety on the estate, as a replacement for Merlot grapes on well-oriented shallow soil. Yielding 45-50 hectoliters per hectare, this wine presents Cabernet characteristics : spicy flavours and a denser tannic structure as well as keeping a certain volume in the mouth. Time and patience will tell us more about how long it can be kept.

Soil, rootstock, type of grape, vine age, exposure, and climate: every year, all these elements make up a vintage.

We harvest in late September/early October. tThe grapes are then sorted before being put into vats. After a few days of pre-fermentation maceration, we operate the alcoholic fermentation resorting to sulphur-free vinification whenever possible. The fermentation temperature is kept between 25 and 30°C. Then, we pump the juice over every day in order to get the colour, the tannins and the grapes’ components that will make the wine’s flavour.

The maceration occurring after the alcoholic fermentation lasts for a more or less important period of time according to the kind of wine you want. We make that decision according to the tasting of each vat. After the cap of skin and the free-run wine are separated, there is a more or less long period of wine ageing. Then, the wine is naturally clarified by settling and fining; it can then be bottled up before being put on the market.

In 2013, we decided to produce dry white wine as part of the Blaye Côtes de Bordeaux appellation. This wine is made out of Sauvignon grapes grown on a sandy-clay soil. From hand-picking to bottling at the beginning of the year following the harvest, we protect this wine as much as possible from oxygen so as to keep all the fruity and fresh flavours of Sauvignon grapes. This wine should be drunk quickly.

In 2019, we dedided to produce a small white wine “Cuvée prestige” vintage which is vinified and aged in oak barrels and which follows our red wine. This wine can be kept up to two to three years.

Discover all our wines:

Château Cap Saint Martin white 2021 dry 

Soil: sandy-clay.

Grape variety: 100% Sauvignon.

Production : 4,500 bottles.

Wine process: 3 months on fine lees in stainless-steel vats.

Tasting: This wine is 100% Sauvignon. The nose offers fruity aromas such as citrus fruits (litchi). On the palate, it is round and the finish is crisp, lightly acidic and fruity. You may enjoy it with oysters, shellfish, fish or as an aperitif.

Château Cap Saint Martin “Cuvée Prestige” white 2021 dry

Soil: sandy-clay.

Grape variety: 100% Sauvignon.

Production : 2,200 bottles.

Wine process: Alcoholic fermentation takes place in barrels of 400 liters
(with a third part of new oak) and the ageing lasts for 6 months on barrels with fine lees
before bottling.

Tasting: This wine is 100% Sauvignon. The nose offers citrus fruits and oaky aromas. On the palate, it is round with a good length and the finish is crisp and frechness. You may enjoy it with fish in sauce or as an aperitif.

Château Les Rousseaux 2020

Soil: clay and limestone.

Grape variety: 100% Merlot.

Wine process: 12 months in epoxy-lined-concrete and stainless-steel vats.

Tasting: Beautiful colour with crimson glints. It is a soft, fruity, and round wine with soft tannins, gluggable which you may drink now. It is packaged in bag-in-boxes. Match with cold buffet and cold meat for example.

Château Les Rousseaux “Mayne-David” 2019

Soil: clay and limestone.

Grape variety: 100% Merlot.

Production: 3,000 bottles.

Wine process: 18 months in epoxy-lined-concrete stainless-steel vats.

Tasting: With a deep, ruby red colour, it is a soft and fruity wine which may be enjoyed quite young. It is packaged in bottles and only sold to French wine merchants and abroad. You may enjoy it with poultry, cold meat or pizza.

Château Cap Saint Martin red 2018

Soil: clay and limestone.

Grape variety: 100% Merlot.

Wine process: 18 months, 50% in vats and 50% in second hand barrels.

Production: 100,000 bottles, half-bottles, magnums and double-magnums.

Tasting: With a nice ruby red colour, this wine has vanilla and spices aromas, with a note of red fruits. On the palate, the wine is round with volume, it has a nice and delicate tannic structure with elegance and well-balance, which makes it very pleasant to drink now. But you may also wait to enjoy it. You may drink this wine over poultry, white meat or cheese.

Château Cap Saint Martin « Cabernet d’en face » red 2018

Soil: clay and limestone.

Grape variety: 100% Cabernet-Sauvignon.

Wine process: 18 months with 12 months in second hand oak barrels.

Production: 6,000 bottles.

Tasting: With a darky ruby red colour, this wine has vanilla, and spices aromas, with a note of blackcurrant which is a characteristic of the Cabernet grape. On the palate, the wine is round, it has a powerfull structure of tannins. You may open now a bottle of this wine but you may as well keep it at least for two or three years. You may drink it over T- bone steak or breast of duck for example.

Château Cap Saint Martin « Cuvée Prestige » red 2018

Soil: clay and limestone.

Grape variety: 70% Merlot, 30% Cabernet-Sauvignon.

Wine process: aged 12 months in second hand barrels.

Production: 18,000 bottles and magnums.

TastingWith a deep ruby colour, this wine has a complex nose blending oaky, spicy and liquorice notes. On the palate, it is full-bodied and offers a nice and powerful tannin structure. You may open now a bottle of this wine  but you may as well keep it at least for three or four years. You may drink it over red meat, game in sauce, and cheese.


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