Chateau Olivier Rouge Pessac Leognan Grand Cru Classe

Description

Chateau Olivier Rouge is a red wine from the Pessac Leognan wine-growing of Bordeaux. Pessac Leognan is located in the north of the Graves wine growing region. Unusually for Bordeaux it is a region that is famous for both red and white Bordeaux wines.

The history of Chateau Olivier stretches back as far as the 14 century; however, it was not until 1846 that Count Charles-Joseph Maurice d’Etchegoyen began producing wine at the estate. Alexandre de Bethmann, elected mayor of Bordeaux in 1867, acquired the estate around the same time. His decendants still manage the estate today. The estate was ranked among the Crus Classés de Graves for red and dry white wine in the Classification of Graves wine of 1953 and 1959.

Château Olivier has the rare particularity of having excellent terroirs for red wine as well as for white wine. There are 60 hectares of gravel soil on clay-limestone and there are six different grape varieties are grown. White grape varieties  grown are Sauvignon Blanc, Sémillon and Muscadelle. The red grapes are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot.

The grapes for the Chateau Olivier Rouge are harvested by hand into small crates. Grapes are sorted twice, one in the vineyard and once at the cellars. The grapes under go a period of pre-fermentation maceration followed by fermentation for 10-30 days at 25-30°C in small temperature-regulated vats. The wine is then aged for 12 months in barrels, a third of which are new, and undergoes malolactic fermentation.

The blend is usually around 58% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot and 2% Petit-Verdot.