Our expertise
An iron hand in a velvet glove
Former co-owner and administrator of Château Cheval Blanc, a Saint-Émilion 1er Grand Cru Classé “A”, Dominique Hebrard knows exactly what it takes to introduce, confirm and maintain excellence in winegrowing.
“The quality of a good wine is ultimately determined by the care and relevance of the interventions we perform right through the process from the vineyard to the glass.”
The rise of a great estate
Starting in 2001, significant investments were made in the vineyard: vines were pulled out and new ones replanted, drainage was installed, other vines were replaced, every individual vine was marked, etc.
Traditional cultural practices used on the top Bordeaux estates were adopted to focus on quality rather than quantity.
The necessary control and careful checking of yields makes it possible to reach optimal levels of fruit ripeness and concentration. The practices involved include specifically adapted pruning, de-budding and thinning out.
Thorough knowledge and expertise in the vineyard have resulted in a cultivation policy that takes into account the slightest characteristics and requirements, determining the need to plough, use a grass cover crop or fertilise plots.
Rational cultivation techniques involving meticulously measured doses of products ensure that the terroir’s natural characteristics are not endangered.
Constantly striving for perfection during the harvest requires plot-by-plot vinification and painstaking selection and sorting of the fruit.
The cellars
80% of a wine’s quality comes from the vineyard and the remaining 20% comes from the winemaking process, which is driven by the ambition, passion, hard work and team spirit shared by all. A top-quality wine is produced by summing all these individual characteristics.
Since the 2001 vintage, the hard work directed at improving quality has increased in intensity. The winery houses equipment that is resolutely high-tech :
Gravity reception system for the harvest.
Sorting tables to ensure meticulous screening of the grapes.
A selection of concrete and stainless steel classic and inversed truncated cone-shaped tanks, all of which incorporate temperature control, is used for precise, efficient plot-by-plot vinification.
Two air-conditioned, partly underground aging cellars that house a selection of barrels from seven different coopers.
