James Suckling 96-97
Jean-Marc Quarin 96
Jane Anson 96
Neal Martin (94-96)
William Kelley (93-95)
Lisa Perrotti-Brown 93-95
At L'Evangile, it's often the Merlot that has the leading role, with the
Cabernet franc accompanying it. This year, the distribution is more
balanced, to build a vintage of tension. Tension that has kept us on
our toes in the face of mildew. A tension that we ardently seek in all
our wines.
The harvest began on 4 September for our Merlot grapes from young
parcels in the graves region. The week was particularly hot, accelerating ripeness and creating a real tipping point. The first juices to
come in revealed red fruits with an energetic matrix, just as Juliette
and Olivier like them: interesting balances with alcohols around
13.5 and pH around 3.7. Harvest decisions then followed a very
“pedological” logic, with the arrival of clays after our gravels,
followed by sands. Tasting our musts in vats confirms this hierarchy.
This year, our Cabernet franc on gravel gave structure to the wine,
like this glowing red bowl, a solid base, allowing our Merlot on clay
(blue) to soar.
