That 'Crac Is Really Moreish

New arrivals from Vincent Alexis
Chateau Barouillet

We have just received a small mountain of wine from Chateau Barouillet, including a much needed top-up of the 2020 Splash pet nat, a new vintage of his Pecharmant, and the 2020 vintages of the deeply-missed Bergecrac Blanc & Rouge. We caught up with Vincent last week on his first sunny morning after 10 days of consecutive rain, to discuss the imminent arrivals and how the huge April frost had left things looking for 2021.

Splash 2020 - Semillon

“It’s crazy how early we have to pick now. We started harvest for Splash on August 14th, and harvest continued until October 10th, so we finished very early, for us. My Father used to start picking in November!

”But the Semillon did well in the heat in 2020, the yeasts populations were high. We pressed directly, it ferments for 10 days in tank before we cool the fermentation with water to halt it, allow it to settle before bottling. That means we don't need to disgorge any sediment at bottling, and don't need to use sulphur.

”This is our 3rd vintage of Splash, the grapes were once used for my families (sweet) Monbazillac production, it's tricky to make good table wines with these plots, they're very susceptible to Noble Rot. Thankfully, they make great pet nat!”

Bergecrac Rouge 2020 - Cab Sav, Cab Franc, Merlot, Malbec

"With the drought in 2020, yeasts were very low so we haven't been able to make as much this year. The grapes for Bergecrac Rouge in particular really fell victim to the heat. We've kept it fresh though, doing nice short macerations for everything: the maximum maceration in the 2020 blend is just 7 days.

"There's no extraction, we just do one pump over at the beginning of the fermentation and then that's it- so it's almost more like an infusion. We try to respect the juice & the fruit as much as possible."

Bergecrac Blanc 2020 - Sav Blanc, Sav Gris, Semillon, Chenin

"The whites coped in the heat better than the reds, and Bergecrac Blanc is a little more complex this year. Still nice and fresh, thanks to the Chenin. Everything is vinified separately, but blended together before ageing.

"It's lovely and round up front, but then super clean and fresh at the end. It's really nice this year.

Both the Bergecracs are bottled without any sulphur."

Pecharmant 2019 - Merlot, Cab Sav, Cab Franc

"The 2019 will be quite different to the 2018, it's the first vintage where we did a portion as whole-bunch for Pecharmant. It's just 30% whole-bunch, layered in the tank with the de-stemmed grapes like... like a lasagne!

“It gives some freshness, some more fruit to the wine, we're really happy with that.

"We have 6 hectares in Pecharmant, and this cuvee is the blend of all the plots. For 2019 we didn't make any Hecate. The yeasts were quite low so we decided to just make one cuvee from these plots, so now the fruit from that flint heavy terroir is in the blend now too. Hecate will return for the 2020 vintage but it will be quite different... I'm super excited when it's ready to bottle to see what people think."

When we last spoke in late March, you were concerned about the imminent cold-snap as you'd had such an early bud-break. How are things looking after the frost?

"After the first couple of days of frost in April it looked like we had lost a lot, much more-so than in 2017. We were really sad. But now, with the second bud break, things are actually not looking too bad. We're quite happy with how it is growing again, I'd say we're going to have grapes for sure!

"The thing we're now waiting for is the flowering on the vine, which can be complicated after a frost. So we could have lots of grapes, or we could lose everything at flowering. Generally after a frost the flowering can be pretty risky. That should be happening in 2-3 weeks, we're waiting for that and hoping for a good sunny time until then!

"That's the next really important step for the vintage. We're waiting and hoping, we need it to be warmer now, the vines are a little yellow, they need the sun again. But it's 25 degrees outside today for the first time so we're full of hope!"