Château La Tour Carnet is a Bordeaux

Bordeaux wine

A Bordeaux wine is any wine produced in the Bordeaux region of France. Average vintages produce over 700 million bottles of Bordeaux wine, ranging from large quantities of everyday table wine, to some of the most expensive and prestigious wines in the world...

 wine

Wine

Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...

 estate in the appellation

Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée

Appellation d’origine contrôlée , which translates as "controlled designation of origin", is the French certification granted to certain French geographical indications for wines, cheeses, butters, and other agricultural products, all under the auspices of the government bureau Institut National...

 Haut-Médoc

Haut-Médoc AOC

Haut-Médoc is an Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée for wine in the Bordeaux wine region of southwestern France, on the Left Bank of the Gironde estuary...

. The wine produced here was classified as one of ten Quatrièmes Crus (Fourth Growths) in the historic Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855

Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855

The Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855 resulted from the 1855 Exposition Universelle de Paris, when Emperor Napoleon III requested a classification system for France's best Bordeaux wines which were to be on display for visitors from around the world...

, at the time known by the name of Carnet.

History

The estate has origins in the early Middle Ages, though the details are largely unknown, but takes its name from Jean Caranet or Carnet, an heir of Jean de Foix who is believed responsible for having built the château tower.

The estate is since 1999 owned by Bernard Magrez

Bernard Magrez

Bernard Magrez, born 1936, is a French wine magnate who predominantly owns Bordeaux wine estates, including Château La Tour Carnet and Château Pape Clément, but also a large number of wine producing properties in other French wine regions and other countries, including Spain, Chile, Argentina and...

.

Production

Château La Tour Carnet estends 126 hectares (311.4 acre), of which 73 ha (180.4 acre) are under vine

Vitis

Vitis is a genus of about 60 species of vining plants in the flowering plant family Vitaceae. The genus is made up of species predominantly from the Northern hemisphere. It is economically important as the source of grapes, both for direct consumption of the fruit and for fermentation to produce...

, planted with 45% Cabernet Sauvignon

Cabernet Sauvignon

Cabernet Sauvignon is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Canada's Okanagan Valley to Lebanon's Beqaa Valley...

, 50% Merlot

Merlot

Merlot is a darkly blue-coloured wine grape, that is used as both a blending grape and for varietal wines. The name Merlot is thought to derive from the Old French word for young blackbird, merlot, a diminutive of merle, the blackbird , probably from the color of the grape. Merlot-based wines...

, 3% Cabernet Franc

Cabernet Franc

Cabernet Franc is one of the major black grape varieties worldwide. It is principally grown for blending with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in the Bordeaux style, but can also be vinified alone - as in the Loire's Chinon...

 and 2% Petit Verdot

Petit verdot

Petit Verdot is a variety of red wine grape, principally used in classic Bordeaux blends. It ripens much later than the other varieties in Bordeaux, often too late, so it fell out of favour in its home region. When it does ripen, it is added in small amounts to add tannin, colour and flavour to the...

 of red grape varieties, as well as white grape varieties of which there is a distribution of 45% Sauvignon blanc

Sauvignon blanc

Sauvignon Blanc is a green-skinned grape variety which originates from the Bordeaux region of France. The grape most likely gets its name from the French word sauvage and blanc due to its early origins as an indigenous grape in South West France., a possible descendant of savagnin...

, 15% Sauvignon gris

Sauvignon gris

Sauvignon gris is pink color wine grape that is a clonal mutation of Sauvignon blanc. The grape is primarily found in Bordeaux and Chile, where it was imported with Sauvignon blanc and Sauvignon vert cuttings. The grape produces less aromatic wines and is often use for blending....

 and 30% Sémillon

Sémillon

Sémillon is a golden-skinned grape used to make dry and sweet white wines, most notably in France and Australia.-History:The origin of the Sémillon grape is hard to determine. It is known that it first arrived in Australia in the early 19th century and by the 1820s the grape covered over 90 percent...

.

There is typically produced 15000 winecase annually of the grand vin Château La Tour Carnet. A second wine is produced under the label Les Douves du Chateau La Tour Carnet, with an annual production of 9000 winecase.

External links

• Château La Tour Carnet official site