In the vineyard
The vineyards are made up of a single hilltop on the Sarpe plateau and it is this small plot of land that is unique compared to surrounding vineyards in the region providing the wines with a naturally low pH (providing higher acidity and stability to the wine). Clos de Sarpe makes big, ripe, juicy wines, therefore their low pH is nothing to do with early picking.
Commercial Director Maylis Marcenat insists it is a very particular trait of the site's terroir and it means they can really push the ripeness of the fruit and get full resolution of tannins, knowing that the wines remain incredibly fresh, vibrant and incredibly long lived. It is this low pH that plays a key factor in the incredible ageing ability of this wine.
Clos de Sarpe sits at around 3.2/3.3pH compared to the 3.7pH of most red Bordeaux. To give another reference point, some of the most acidic wines in the world, like cool climate Riesling, sit around 3pH.
2004 saw the next major development in their winemaking, employing 20 people to sort the fruit prior to fermentation. This was a significant investment for such a small winery. 2004 was the first time the Château had ever sorted their fruit prior to fermentation and, from 2005 onwards, they invested in an optical sorting machine. They were one of the first Bordeaux estates to invest into the machine, something that has now become commonplace 15 years on.
In the winery
Prior to the late nineties, no oak at all was used in the maturation of Clos de Sarpe yet this was still common practice for many producers in Bordeaux at the time. Instead they used the more traditional method of fermenting and ageing the wine on its stems, drawing out more tannins from the wine, helping to give the wine long ageing ability.
Up until 1986, Clos de Sarpe was effectively 100% whole bunch matured in 100% concrete tank with the wine never seeing any oak. Whilst 100% whole bunch long-ageing on skins made the wines incredibly age-worthy, they were practically undrinkable for the first 10 years of their life. The importance of En Primeur in the '80s and '90s made wines in this style economically unviable.
Clos de Sarpe only fully de-stemmed their wine from 2008 onwards and first introduced new oak barrels to replace the long maceration method in 1997. Prior to this it was a combination of partial stems in the blend and ageing in concrete tank. By 1999 the style had changed further.
In 1998 they hired Michel Rolland to consult on their property and by 1999 they were using 100% new French oak to mature their wines. By 2009 the wine became completely de-stemmed, whilst they continued to use 100% new French barrique for maturation. These days they have stripped back on the new oak, down to 70%. As Maylis states “I don’t want to make the same recipe every year. We need to adapt to the vintage".