WINEMAKING

"At La Couspade, our basic rule is to respect the terroir. We make sure to follow this aim throughout the winemaking process. You cannot make the same wine twice.
Above and beyond the intrinsic value of the terroir, it takes two centuries to make a great wine - and what is suitable here might be totally inappropriate elsewhere.
Unless you intend to make products that taste like somebody else's, you simply cannot imitate the way wine is made at another terroir. " comments Alain Aubert

Chateau La Couspaude's Character

Jean-Claude Aubert defines his wine this way, "Our chalky soil naturally produces full and powerful wines, with a great deal of tannin. We want to bring out the soil's natural finesse, and avoid making wine that is too powerful, due to overripeness and overextraction. Everything we do here is with the wine's balance in mind. Our wine must reflect its true character: not only a fine structure, but also elegance, balance, and fine, silky tannin".

A Well-equipped Cellar

Improvements are constantly taking place at La Couspaude's vat room, and the winemaking is increasingly fine-tuned.

The recent decision to use even smaller vats goes along with this orientation.
"The reason for using smaller vats is not so much to keep wine from each vineyard plot separate, which is not so important for a small estate with fairly homogeneous soil like ours, but rather to maintain absolute control over the temperature and the degree of concentration", comments Jean-Claude Aubert.

The new oak vats hold between 50 and 70 hectolitres, and have a larger diameter so as to provide maximum contact between the juice and the skins (one vat of 20 hectolitres is reserved for Cabernet Franc). The vats are fitted with exterior coils, which ensure better diffusion and more precise temperature regulation.

The Winemaker's Role

Our quest to capture the full finesse and flavour from the soil calls for a certain type of winemaking.

Alcoholic fermentation at La Couspaude is carried out at relatively low temperatures (between 28° and 32° C on average, according to the vintage) to bring out the best in the wine.

However, the wine is left on the skins for a fairly long time (20-30 days) to compensate for the deliberately reduced extraction during fermentation.

In order to avoid a loss in flavour due to excessive oxidation, the wine is pumped over only as often as necessary. In order to compensate for any possible loss in extraction, Alain Aubert has installed an unusual mechanical system that "decompacts" the cap and turns it over.

The Aubert brothers believe that such innovative techniques are essential for obtaining finesse in their wine.

Another unusual approach at La Couspaude is that 100% of the malolactic fermentation takes place in new oak barrels. Alain and Jean-Claude Aubert explain their decision as follows: "Using new oak, with moderate toasting, undoubtedly improves the wine after several months. The marriage between oak and wine is more complete, and better-balanced. There is not a mere juxtaposition of flavours, but rather a real blend.
The tannin is less sharp, and more round. It will take several years before we know whether or not this added factor lasts or goes away. We obviously hope that it stays".

In 1997 we even tried an unprecedented experiment at La Couspaude. After the malolactic fermentation, a quarter of the wine was run off into other new barrels.
The results would suggest that the wine responds very well to this treatment thanks to the remarkable soil it comes from.

The vintage of La Couspaude we tasted from barrel had delicate oak flavours, with a beautiful balance between power and finesse.

 

A FAMYLY COMMITMENT - BACKGROUND - THE TERROIR

THE VINEYARD - WINEMAKING - AGEING

 

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