Château du Retout
„Brought to new life.“
Kopp family
Château du Retout was born from the merger of Châteaux Retout-Rosset in Lamarque and Salva de Camino in Cussac Fort Médoc. Like many other estates, they had almost disappeared from the scene, mainly due to the phylloxera crisis at the end of the 19th century. In the 1950s, the Kopp family acquired the land, merged it and rebuilt it at great expense.
Today, the vineyard area includes 34 ha with AOC Haut-Médoc status and 1.5 ha with white grape varieties. They are situated on a hilltop, characterised by deeper Garonne gravel in the upper part and loamy-gravelly soils in the lower part. The ecologically sustainable cultivation avoids the use of herbicides and fungicides. Only natural fertiliser is used.
The grapes for the red wine consist of 68.5 % Cabernet Sauvignon, 24.5 % Merlot and 7 % Petit Verdot. After harvesting, the grapes "are put into sulphur-free but yeast-treated barrels and cooled to 5 °C to 8 °C for cold maceration. Then the grapes are heated to 16 °C so that alcoholic fermentation can begin." In total, the fermentation lasts 7 days and the maceration in the fermentation vats 4 weeks. The assemblage is followed by 12 months of ageing in barriques (1/3 new wood).
The white wine cuvée is also a matter of the heart - and in itself exotic in the Médoc, especially in the choice of grape varieties with Sauvignon Gris, Gros Manseng and Mondeuse Blanche. The harvest takes place at very different times. Vinification with fermentation in French oak barrels and terracotta amphorae also takes place separately.
© Images: Château du Retout
