Winegrowers' Portraits Caillac
Domaine de lagrézette
The fruit of passion
Built by the family Massault in the 15th century on the foundations of a 12th-century fortified house, Château Lagrézette is the successful combination of a traditional massive medieval architecture and an elegant Renaissance ornamentation. It has been successively owned by several families until 1980 when Alain Dominique Perrin buys it. He makes it classify as historic building as from '82, saving it from the noble decrepitude in which it sank through times …
Enthusiast, pioneer in many fields, Alain Dominique Perrin spent infinite time and energy to rehabilitate Château Lagrézette. For him, it is the successful conclusion of a childhood dream, inaccessible and crazy. This sudden passion for a region and its wine, symbol of a lifestyle, culture and tradition, gave back this historical domain its former vocation: viticulture.
The vineyard
Created as from the 15th century, the Château's historical vineyard, replanted and perfectly maintained, currently covers more than 90 hectares—and on three sites. Settled on the second and third terraces of the Lot, on clay, limestone and siliceous soils, it is mainly planted with Malbec (89% of its surface area), complemented with 10% Merlot and 1% Tannat.
Alain Dominique Perrin worked hard to make his domain become the leader of the appellation Cahors. The renovation of the building, its gardens and vineyards lasted for more than twenty years. Impressive works have been undertaken in the vineyard and in the cellar to produce the best wine. With Oenologist Michel Rolland's advices, the principles based on controlled yields and research of the optimum maturity have been strictly implemented. Thinning out of the leaves, removing green bunches and harvest are done manually; selection is first processed during picking and then in the vat house again. Nothing is left to chance to vinify perfect grapes.
Not far away from there, in the village of Rocamadour, the former Chairman of the Management Board of Cartier planted 10 hectares of vines as from 2001, thus giving the village the opportunity to see its wine be revived after its last stocks disappeared during the Middle Ages.
Alain Dominique Perrin This vines, in appellation (IGP: Protected Geographical Indication) Côtes du Lot et Rocamadour, planted with Viognier and Chardonnay, are managed with the same rigour. They give vivid and fleshy white wines, full of charm and character.
His last purchase dates back 2006: Domaine de Landiech, one of the most beautiful terroirs of the whole Cahors appellation, located on the districts of Touzac and Lacapelle-Cabanac. In order to respect the environment, the soil sanitization has been done according to the rules, cultivating barley. 20 hectares of Malbec have been entirely replanted; the first harvest took place in 2011. This beautiful site that extends on a plateau overlooking the Lot River in the far west of the department is subject to an important oenotouristic project.
The cellar of the domain always at the forefront of technology
Bridge between technology and tradition, the underground wine storehouse of the Domaine de Lagrézette has been conceived to respect at the same time the quality of the wine and the environment. True challenge for imagination and most advanced technics, 55 meters long, 19 meters deep, its conception and building took two years’ work. Located at the foot of the château, this unique cellar enables a simple but sophisticated vinification process: the three stages of wine-making are carried out at each of its three levels; the transport of the harvest, then the wine, is simply operated by gravity.
Conceived and built in 1992, Lagrézette's wine storehouse has just been subject to an important renovation to make this incredible work tool benefit from the latest technological advances and from a reflexion stemming from a 20-year experience. The restored cellar has been inaugurated with the 2011 vintage.
Today it is one of the most modern of France.
A system of small trucks permits to bring down the grapes directly into the vats, thirty in total of which 7 oak tuns of various capacity that enable separate vinifications according to the varietals, plots, places of origin. As many tonalities as tuns that come to enrich the range of tastes and possibilities.
The ageing in new oak barrels and, later on, the blending that reaches a precision and a complexity never equalled in the history of the wines from Lagrézette, are operated on the ground floor where temperature and hygrometry are naturally constant and ideal.
The wines are vinified with the traditional method—long maceration, constant control of temperature, regular pumping-over and cap-punching, malolactic fermentation and ageing in new oak barrels changed for a third depending on the cuvees. Perfect illustrations of the estate's renewal: Le Pigeonnier, Cuvée Dame d’Honneur and Château Lagrézette.
Alain Dominique Perrin was pointed at, even snubbed, when he has just bought the domain. Enthusiast entrepreneur, patron and interested in everything, ADP to his friends made his the following motto: “
Keep on saying what you think. And doing what you think has to be done.” Today Château Lagrézette's wine is considered as an exceptional cru, regularly acclaimed by the critics and awarded in contests.
Dominique Peyral-Bon
Château Lagrézette
46140 CAILLAC - France
Contact: Jean Courtois
Tel.: +33 (0) 5 65 20 07 42
www.château-lagrezette.tm.fr
