Château du Cayrou
La Tour du Cayrou 2015
Château du Cayrou La Tour du Cayrou 2015
La Tour du Cayrou is a single-parcel wine from the best site of the estate, produced from certified organic malbec (known locally as cot), grown in a privileged location with gravelly soils on the 2nd terrace of the right bank of the Lot river, near Puy l’Évèque.
The winemaking philosophy is to produce wines that are light-framed, fresh, and elegant. In practice, this means careful control of the temperature during maceration and fermentation. It also means no use of oak barrels at all in the winery, with the goal of making wines that are pure, transparent expressions of the site.
Vintage Notes – 2015 was a classically warm, blockbuster year in which Château du Cayrou benefitted by having vines planted exclusively on the deeply-drained gravelly soils on the 2nd terrace of the right bank of the Lot river. The malbec grapes were able to survive the intense heat and avoid excessive hydric stress through access to water deep in the soil. In August, very cool weather and intermittent rain revitalized the vines after the fierce heat of July, and the mild weather in September and October permitted picking perfect, fully ripe grapes under ideal conditions.
Vinification – The goal at Château du Cayrou is transparent expression of terroir; therefore, the winemaking process is kept as simple as possible. After a pre-dawn harvest, the wines are fermented in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks at 27°C to 29°C, with a maceration period of 30 days. The wines then age for two years in stainless steel tanks.