Chateau La Peyre Haut-Medoc 2015
(Bordeaux, France)

The Rabiller family has a long tradition of growing grapes in Saint Estephe. However, in the past, the entire harvest was sold to the local cooperative. As of 1994, Dany and René Rabiller decided to bottle their own wine.

Chateau La Peyre is made up of several separate vineyard plots covering a total of eight hectares in the Marbuzet sector of the Saint Estephe appellation. The average age of the vineyards is over 40 years. 

The grape blend for Chateau La Peyre's Haut-Medoc is 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 45% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc. After a manual harvest, the alcoholic fermentation takes place in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks; at the conclusion of that phase of the vinification, the wine is racked into small barrels to clarify for an additional year before bottling. Production is on the order of 8000 bottles per annum; only 3000 bottles are reserved for the US market.

Only 30% new French oak is used each year to avoid overwhelming the character of the wine. The wine is gently fined using egg whites before bottling but it is not filtered.