2001 Château La Tour de By, Bordeaux, France, Médoc

Château La Tour de By originates from the estate of Pierre Tizon, Seigneur du Fief de By, who owned this land in the 16th Century. The property, which was known as La Roque de By in these early years, passed from his descendents to Comte Louis de Gramont in 1725, and then to a gentleman named de Lignac and then to Alfred Rubichon in 1860. By this time the tower to which La Tour refers was already in existence, it being a lighthouse built on the site of an old windmill, which was erected in 1825. Not content with this edifice, however, in 1876 Rubichon also built the impressive château which still graces the site today. During the 20th Century the property continued to be handed on, first in the ownership of Julien Damoy, under whose ownership the property was classified as a Cru Bourgeois in 1932, before coming to a consortium of owners named Pages, Lapalu and Cailloux in 1965. The first of these three, Marc Pages, subsequently took full control of the property in 1999, and today he runs the estate with his son Xavier.

The vineyards are located in the Médoc, close to the Gironde, on a gravelly croupe and it covers 74 hectares in total. The vineyard is stocked with 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot and 5% Petit Verdot, planted at a density up to 6600 vines per hectare, and with an average age of more than 40 years. There is some green harvesting, particularly on the younger parcels of vines, together with leaf-plucking, and the September harvest is achieved with the use of machine rather than by hand. Although once on the higher side, yields are more controlled in recent vintages to an average of 43 hl/ha. Once in the chai the wines are fermented in wooden cuves before going into barrel for twelve months, where they then undergo malolactic fermentation. 20% of the barrels are replaced with each vintage.