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/ Unmistakably, a Saint-Emilion
Grand Cru ClasséIn Saint-Emilion you need only scratch the soil to see the past come to the surface, and Château Haut-Corbin is one of those properties which helped write the tumultuous history of the Right Bank. During the period when the English "harvested" Aquitaine, this land was part of the great fiefdom belonging to Edward, Prince of Wales (the son of King Edward III), remembered in history as the Black Prince, but with time the land was divided by inheritance. Buffeted by the winds of war and the departure of the English, the estate was broken up and gave birth to a number of properties which share the Corbin name in the north of Saint-Emilion.
Despite its ancient past, Château Haut-Corbin's history is discrete, and it appears only rarely in Right Bank annals. Written traces are scarce, and oral stories hint at a domaine with its share of secrets. One of the few extant documents is a paper recounting the work undertaken by an owner who renovated the domaine in the 1960s. But if the record is poor, the land is not.
Château Haut-Corbin's ascension to the rank of a Saint-Emilion Grand Cru Classé owes nothing to chance. Situated just 600 meters from the great estates of Pomerol, its terroir is typical of the transitional area where the full-body of Pomerol combines with the elegance of Saint-Emilion. This led the Mutuelles du Bâtiment et des Travaux Publics to acquire the vineyard in 1986 and restore the stature of this domaine whose full promise had yet to be revealed.
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/ A vineyard tended like a garden, situated on a unique site renowned for its mineral richness
Far from the plateau on which the Saint-Emilion village rests, the Corbin countryside is one of pastoral calm. Vines spread across the heights in abundance, leaving the damp lowlands to the rabbits and poplar trees. In this setting of gently rolling hills, Château Haut-Corbin occupies a magnificent outcrop of six hectares, the very model of a vineyard tended with the care of a garden. Despite the uniformity of its appearance, the land possesses a variety of soil types. At its summit marked by the silhouette of an old stone house, wind-blown sands have been deposited on a clay base to give Château Haut-Corbin's terroir its distinctive personality.
The sand is so fine that it is impossible to imagine that vines can grow here; but despite this seemingly unwelcoming soil with its apparent aridity the vines' roots grow deep and never suffer from lack of water, even in the hottest summers. This is the miraculous nature of the land. Further down the slope, the land becomes heavier with a combination of clay and gravel to produce an eclectic mix which is the source of Haut-Corbin's complexity.
Under the current ownership the vines once again grow in a traditional, gentle manner. Herbicides have been banished in favor of a regular working of the soil, and rigorous pruning has restored the vines' elegance. Today, the results are evident: the land is more natural in appearance, the vines are better balanced, and the terroir gives full expression to its character.
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/ Merlot defines Château Haut-Corbin's smooth character
The music of Haut-Corbin's land can be heard in the Merlot which gives the wines their brilliance and generous nature. Comprising almost two-thirds of the vineyard, the grape gives silky definition to the wine. Well-exposed and sufficiently warm soils bring Cabernet Sauvignon to full maturity so that its 25% contribution to the wine imparts structure, while 10% of Cabernet Franc brings finesse and fruit.
One of Château Haut-Corbin's advantages is the vineyard's age. Having miraculously escaped the effects of the great frost of 1956, the average age of the vines is a respectable 45 to 50 years which is ideal for producing the finest wines possible.
This age naturally limits yields, but sometime nature needs help: when it proves too generous, a program of "green harvesting" is undertaken to bring the harvest to around 50 hectoliters per hectare, a sacrifice made in the name of quality.
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/ From the vines to the cellar, the identity of each parcel is maintained
At summer's end, tension mounts. Pursuit of the grapes' maturity is the sole, constant preoccupation for a successful vintage. This ambition is already evident in June and late August when a careful leaf-thinning is made to expose the grapes to an ideal amount of sunlight. Haut-Corbin's six hectares of vines are picked in three days, and meticulous hand-harvesting supplemented by a systematic sorting eliminates damaged or unripe bunches. In 2007, the construction of new cellars and a vat room equipped with 100-hectoliter, temperature-controlled wooden tanks helped distribute the harvest efficiently. The vats' small size makes it possible to conserve the identity of each parcel and grape variety. After alcoholic fermentation a long, soft maceration of around 30 days draws the grapes' finest elements into the wine.
At the end of maceration part of the wine is run off while warm (at 28°C) into new oak barrels to finish its malolactic fermentation, and the wines appear to acquire greater elegance and complexity. But new oak has never been a religion at Haut-Corbin; it is used for only 55% of the domaine's wine, with the rest going into one-fill barrels. This philosophy of aging uses new oak only to contribute a well-defined edge, similar to a spice judiciously added to a dish, without changing the wine's basic nature. Slowly, with repeated racking, the wines are gradually assembled and after 12 to 14 months in barrel, depending on the vintage, Château Haut-Corbin's grand vin is bottled.