Located in the town of Léognan, in the heart of the AOC Pessac-Léognan, between the Château Malartic-Lagravière and Fieuzal and the the Domaine Chevalier. The Château Le Sartre was rediscovered and highlighted by the Perrin family (owners of the Château Carbonnieux) in the early 80’s. The Château has been managed by Marie-José Perrin Leriche since 2004, with the help of her husband and their manager and oenologist David Château. Nearly thirty years ago, Antony Perrin (Carbonnieux) and Marie José Leriche, his sister, teamed up to rebuild the estate and to revive the Château Le Sartre. In the year 2004, Antony Perrin entrusts the domain to his sister. She, with the help of her husband and David Château, bringing together a team of professionals who are all committed to an uncompromising approach. David is a graduate of the Jules Guyot Institute in Dijon. He made his debut with Christophe Roumier (Manager and Oenologist of Domaine Georges Roumier in Chambolle-Musigny) and Isabelle Dutartre (“Winemaker” at De Ponte Cellars- Willamette Valley Oregon).
“The vinification process of the grapes into wine, is the interpretation of a vineyard by a winemaker; it is necessarily personal it must however be subtle and always remain true to the full potential of the vineyard. The quality of the grapes is the essence of this potential. This quality is the winemaker’s reward when he meticulously managed to make the most of climatic and growing hazards while respecting the identity of his terroir.”
David Château
The Sartre vineyard is planted at 6,500 p/ha, including the traditional grape varieties of the great white and red wines of the Pessac-Léognan appellation. It is composed 36 hectares, three colors, five varieties. The average age of the vines is 21 years for the reds and 19 years for the whites.Château Le Sartre offers the diversity of terroirs of Pessac-Léognan. It is located to the South of Fieuzal and to the east of Chevalier, a first set belonging to one tenant of 25.6 hectares surrounded by buildings of the domain. The limestone sandy clay soil displaces at the end of the Tertiary Era and his affiliated to the north of this ensemble consisting of a large majority of brown soils which are deposits deposited by the Garonne in the Quaternary.Very gravelly at the base of the rumps, these compact brown soils have the availability of water and constitute a perfect area for the Cabernet Sauvignon. At the top of the terrace, the sandy cover allows a deeper rooting to the vines, the limitation of the hydraulic stress in the summer and the favoring of Merlots and Sauvignons which equity are preserved by the microclimate of the vineyard created by the forest surrounding the property on three sides. On the flanks of the rump, the subsoil, which is distinctively clayey, is particularly conductive to a very mineral expression of Sauvignon, the silky character of Cabernet Franc and the power of Merlot.A second set of 7.6 hectares and a plot of 1.7 hectares which are completing the vineyard have been planted a kilometer away near the north-west, between Fieuzal and Malartic-Lagravière, near Carbonnieux. These vines are based on Garonne alluvial deposits, more recent than Sartre, from which gravelly and more evolved soils are produced. This results in a lower mineral fertility and localized cementation of the gravelly subsoil. Combined with the southern exposure, this explains the earlier maturation of this sector and the great complementarities of wines from both vineyards.
The entire property is harvested by hand, in small boxes to maintain the integrity of the grapes, to avoid the settling, crushing and oxidation. This manual harvest allows the sorting of the grapes as soon as they are picked and also to eliminate elements that are unfit for vinification.The boxes are immediately sent to the vat room for processing. The fully modular reception equipment makes it possible to sort the grapes and/or harvest the grapes after a very careful staling. The quality of the harvest is therefore fully preserved and respected.
After sorting, the 100% destemmed grapes are put in the vat without crushing, since the Château uses a vat pump, which is limiting the trituration as much as possible. The different vatings are constituted for each grape variety by the assembly of parcels selections of the same potential. As the extraction phase begins it is adapted to each batch, making it possible to make the most of the harvest. After maceration at a low temperature for a few days to extract aromas and colored pigments (anthocyanins), the alcoholic fermentation starts, sometimes with native yeasts. Reassembly and pigeage allow to slowly diffusing the components of the films (skin of the grapes) to the juice, the goal is to extract the best tannins, in the most delicate way in order to preserve the typicality of the wines, and to avoid over-extraction. The main tool to control this process is the daily tasting. The vatting time lasts from 20 to 30 days and is always adapted in order to respect the identity of Sartre wines: the freshness and the purity of the fruit, suppleness of the tannins. Once the vattings are finished, the juices are drained and the marcs are pressed. The wines are then put in vats or barrels for malolactic fermentations.
The Sartre red wines are traditionally aged in barrels for 12 months. The new wood is partly used for malolactic fermentation in barrels and a maturation process on lees with stirring. The racking takes place according to tastings and regular analyzes. The objective is to respect the freshness and the purity of the fruit, and to complicate aromas and tannins through aging and the association with wood.