Description
Château Rocheyron consists of 8.45 hectares of the historic Saint-Emilion terroir: the vines on this terroir are planted on the Saint-Christophe-des-Bardes plateau, consisting of calcosol soils on asteria limestone dating back to the Lower Oligocene. The terroir is noted for its capacity to produce great wines.
This is a small vineyard, but big on quality; it is planted with 70% Merlot and 30% Cabernet Franc grapes and yields less than 30hl/ha. Average age of the vines approximates to over 45 years, with some very old vines of over 80 years.
Double guyot pruning and manual harvesting coupled with low-temperature vinification processes for gentle extraction and finished with a period of 14 months maturation in 50% new French oak barrels is the approach adopted by this Chateau.
Tasting Notes
The 2012 Château Rocheyron is a blend of 20% Cabernet Franc and 80% Merlot, with 13.3% alcohol. Peter Sisseck commented that this vintage benefitted from improvements made in the vineyard, and that is evidenced by the nose, much more complex than the 2011 with ebullient red cherry, wild strawberry, minerals and crushed rose petals. The palate is well balanced with fine tannin, not as forward or as savory as the 2011, better structure with a pinch of white pepper and sea salt on the finish. You start to see the character of the vineyard come through with this vintage. Excellent. Tasted March 2017. [91 Points, Neal Martin –July 2017, robertparker.com]
