Vineyards and winemaking
This organically certified Bordeaux is made from 100% Merlot grown on Arnauld Daudier de Cassini's four-hectare Bordeaux AOP holding. High grass cover and an intentionally hands-on approach support biodiversity, with the small harvest completed manually and the fruit brought in at once.
Natural yeasts begin fermentation, followed by three weeks of gentle extraction. The wine then spends 22 months in concrete rather than oak and is bottled by gravity without fining or filtration, with sulphur used only sparingly. The result places fruit, earth and texture ahead of polish from wood.
Tasting notes
Appearance
Deep, bright garnet with a naturally unforced clarity.
Nose
Black cherry and fresh plum are joined by violet, graphite, leaf and a faintly dusty earthiness.
Palate
Soft and medium-bodied, with juicy Merlot fruit, supple tannins and a lively, savoury edge. Concrete ageing preserves purity and gives the wine a cool mineral feel, while the unfiltered finish is fresh, gently herbal and invitingly dry.
Food pairing
An excellent bistro-style red for steak frites, Toulouse sausages with lentils, mushroom and thyme pie, or a cheeseboard of Tomme and farmhouse Cheddar. A light chill and brief carafe will show its fruit at its best.
Background story
After studying viticulture in Avignon and gaining experience at estates including Château Figeac, Arnauld Daudier de Cassini established an unconventional micro-estate near Libourne. His approach draws inspiration from low-intervention growers in the Loire and rejects unnecessary cellar adornment.
The curved motif on the label honours his ancestor Jean-Dominique Cassini, the mathematician, astronomer and cartographer associated with mapping France. Here that family reference frames a distinctly modern Bordeaux: organic, concrete-raised and deliberately made for pleasure rather than ceremony.
