Another year of all dangers, from which the Cru Barréjats emerged victorious. Drastic sorting and small yields have resulted in a crystalline wine that is now ripe.
“The successes of the vintage: The 1994, vinified in 100% new barrels, soars at the top of the appellation. Very focused and very fine, he will not finish making a name for himself. He’s very, very big.” La Revue du Vin de France, September 1996
(*) “Very concentrated and very fine wine. Great wine. 2002 – 2009” Le guide d’achat des Crus 1996, R.V.F. September 1996
The 1994 vintage as seen by Mireille Daret:
Offering you the opportunity to taste the 1994 Cru Barréjats is nothing short of miraculous… Or rather, the tenacity we have deployed to wrest a few noble grapes from nature, which is very versatile in this vintage. The climate in 1994 was very capricious: After a hot winter during which temperatures were 5°C higher than normal for the season, the bud break of the vines was obviously early. The generous month of March, with temperatures 3°C above normal, favoured a rapid development of young shoots. “In April, don’t uncover yourself by a thread” … We all know that sayings are struck by common sense. In April 1994, frost hit Barsac, cutting the harvest by three-quarters. We then took the decision to drop the buds and young shoots affected by the frost, in order to try to encourage the growth of counter-buds that are sometimes fruitful, and above all to allow the growth of pruning wood for the following year. In one week, by hand, on each vine, we removed each bud, i.e. nearly 100,000 buds!
Flowering was then delayed and spread out over time, especially since the minimum temperatures in June were 7°C lower than seasonal norms. Luckily there was no rain on the flowering, which went well. The months of July and August were warm and the veraison conditions were ideal. In September the first 15 days were beautiful and dry: We had a very good maturity with grapes as sweet as in 1989 but above all more acidity characteristic of the 1994 vintage.
In mid-September, the temperatures dropped and the rains arrived… We had to wait…. Then drop the berries damaged by grey mould and acetic acid bite which, after the frost, led to a further reduction in harvest. A sacrifice that we do not hesitate to make in order to achieve an optimal quality of harvest. After this humidity, which was favourable to the development of Botrytis, a powerful anticyclone with south-easterly winds developed, which caused rapid desiccation of the heavily botrytised grapes. On October 4th, we decided to carry out the first grain-to-grain sorting. The good weather did not leave us until the end of the harvest, which continued until mid-November: a total yield of 11.5 hectolitres per hectare, for an authorised yield in the Sauternes appellation of 25 hl/ha. After so much effort, the concentration and quality of the musts make us forget all our sufferings.
Hydraulic vertical pressing, light cold settling, fermentation in 100% new barrels (Mercier, Taransaud, Vicard), in a cellar whose temperature we control, stopping cold fermentation which allows us to reduce the addition of sulphur, tracing the barrels in the cellar in order to preserve their identity for as long as possible, and blending seemed child’s play to us… All the more so as we have not ruled out any sorting or barrel, to make the blend of the 1994 Cru Barréjats: Extreme aromatic purity, with a very mineral, very crystalline side, which goes straight to the nose.
After 30 months of ageing in new barrels, we bottled the 1994 Cru Barréjats on 9 April 1997: 3700 bottles and 100 magnums. The maturation in our cellar will continue until 1998.
