Good old Saint-Macaire

In the past, it had a reputation for high yields and therefore for not producing quality wines. We planted our first vines in 2018, and every year it surprises us with the wines it yields: well-structured and fruity, with notes of raspberry and chocolate. The budburst shown below provides valuable insight into the reasons behind its high productivity. It is not uncommon on a single bud eye to see the primary, secondary, and tertiary buds burst all at once. The latter two buds usually remain dormant on most grape varieties. It is therefore a variety that requires disbudding; otherwise, one could harvest up to 50 bunches on a single Guyot training system. And the harvested grapes would inevitably be disappointing, as they would never fully ripen. And like all grape varieties, it is not without its flaws: it buds early and is therefore vulnerable to frost, has a bushy growth habit that makes trellising tricky, is relatively susceptible to downy mildew, and did not cope very well with last year's heatwave (though this remains to be confirmed, as heatwaves never sit well with young vines). We continue our work observing Bordeaux’s forgotten grape varieties. They still have so much to teach us!