offer per 6-bottle case - Esprit de L'Archange - Saint-Emilion - 2014

THE VINTAGE
NOTES
After a rather rainy and mild January and February, the 2014 vintage was already looking like an early vintage right after winter. A cool and dry March promoted even bud break, followed by good growth in April, eight days ahead of an average year. The weather remained favorable in May, with rapid and even flowering from the end of May to early June for Merlot, with an estimated harvest above average. However, the summer of 2014 was unstable, with alternating beautiful days and rainy spells. August was gloomy, and veraison was notably spread out. Spirits were low in mid-August with green seeds interspersed among the perfectly verai-ed bunches... By cutting short our winegrowers' holidays to carry out a meticulous selection process, row by row and vine by vine, to remove all bunches with delayed veraison, we eliminated the heterogeneity
that threatened to jeopardize this vintage. The dedication and professionalism of our teams paid off. But this effort was enhanced by the month of September. Hot, windy, and dry, it improved our grapes in an almost unexpected way, pushing their maturity to an unforeseen level.