Château Grand-Puy Ducasse’s story began when Arnaud Ducasse bought a “modest“ house on the banks of the river in Pauillac in 1675. Little did he know that it would become a large estate that would remain in his family for almost three centuries. Pierre Ducasse, a lawyer with a passion for wine, considerably extended the land over three parishes - Pauillac, Saint-Lambert and Saint-Sauveur - and three seigneuries: Lafite, Latour and Beychevelle. In 1820, his son built the Château’s winery facing the Gironde estuary. At the time, this was a daring decision: Grand-Puy Ducasse would be the only Château in the area to vinify its
grapes for 200 years. In 1855, the property was included in the prestigious classification of great growths; with 40 hectares of vines spread over 11 different types of soil, its vineyard can be considered as the most representative of the diversity of Pauillac’s terroirs. Since the 1990s, major investments have been made in restructuring the vineyard. In 2004, CA Grands Crus, a subsidiary of the Crédit Agricole Group, has embarked on an ambitious optimization plan. The subsequent construction of a new vat room and barrel storage facilities completed the “Renaissance” plan. The guiding principle of Château Grand-Puy Ducasse and its teams lead by Anne Le Naour and Benjamin Cassoulet is to push rigorous standards even further.
A detailed knowledge of the terroirs made it possible to enhance the adequacy of the plant material to the terroirs. The varietal breakdown of the vineyard consists of Cabernet Sauvignon (59%), Merlot (36%) and Petit Verdot (5%). Pruned in double guyot, the vines have an average age of 25 years.
At Château Grand-Puy Ducasse, they strongly believe that it is necessary to combine quality and sustainable development. In 1996, they decided to stop weeding the vineyards and returned to tillage on 100% of the surfaces. In 2012 an Environmental Management System was implemented. 2014 marked the first experiments in organic farming and 2016 was the first Iso 14001 & HVE3 normed certified vintage. Since then, the agroecological infrastructures have been traced every year and the action plan updated to keep up with their preservation and development.
Château Grand-Puy Ducasse will seduce lovers of great red wines from Pauillac with its exceptional quality marked by a very beautiful aromatic richness. A classic vintage, complete, complex, rich and unctuous, this cuvée promises superb aging potential.
Aging 18 months in French oak barrels (35% new for the 2020 vintage).After manual harvesting in crates and an initial sorting in the vineyard, the grapes are sorted again using the latest generation optical sorting system. Vinification is then carried out in stainless steel temperature controlled tanks however for some of the batches, malolactic fermentation is also carried out in new barrels.
My First comment tasting this wine is "wow!" It's delicious; our flagship wine at Paradigm and it delivers. Dense, deep, ripe aromas of black berry and black cherry-like fruit layered with caramel and toastiness from a nice mix of French Oak barrels. Flavors coat the palate with matching notes in a classic Cabernet Sauvignon presentation. One of our best Cabs to date!
Paradigm Cabernet Sauvignon is made from 96% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Merlot , 1% Petit Verdot
Review:
"Owned and managed by the Harris family, Paradigm winery produced its first vintage in 1991 in Oakville with winemaker Heidi Barrett. A self-contained winery estate with 50 acres of vineyards, Paradigm maintains a hands-on approach to all winemaking and vineyard operations. The 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon consists of 89% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Merlot, 3% Petit Verdot and 2% Cabernet Franc, and is aged in both new and used French oak for 20 months, then aged a further 20 months in bottle before release. The total production for this vintage was 5,544 bottles." Blind tasted by Dave Allen, Stephen Brook, Terry Kandylis (at Decanter Magazine's December 2019 Californian Cabernet 2015 Panel Tasting, London, 17 Sep 2019)
- Decanter 95 Points
Villa Monti Chianti Superiore DOCG Organic is made from 90% Sangiovese, 5% Canaiolo and 5% Colorino.
Ruby red color, with delicious fruity and floral aromas, with a pleasant structure and tannic density, leading to a balanced and persistent finish.
The grapes are coming from Le Tire, Paradiso La Fonte parcels with good sun exposure that gives the wine a lot of roundness and juiciness.
Red meat, Game, Cheese.