Grape blend : 60 % cabernet sauvignon - 37 % merlot - 3% petit-verdot.

The merlots were unique at Caronne because they showed thick but ripe skins which is unusual for deep gravel soils. The cabenrnets were also ripe.

The wine : shows fruit and concentration but also a good acidity and structure. It makes it very pleasant to drink but the backbone is there to show it will keep. Unlike some 1982's it has the right acidity to remain fresh a long time.

Press releases...

DECANTER MAGAZINE June 2003

*** Recomended

THE VINE June 2001 - Clive Coates M.W.

"Good colour. Ripe and ample on the nose. Very good fruit here. Fullish body. Quite substantial. Good tannins. This has grip too. The best Caronne Ste Gemme ever ?
Lovely finish.
From 2006."

Hachette wine guide 2004 (Mitchell Beazley)

** - Château Caronne Ste Gemme 2000

The Wine spectator - June 2001

Rated 90

"Solid and racy. Vivid aromas of currant and berry follow through to a medium to full bodied palate, with well integrated tannins and a long, refreshing finish.

Hugh Johnson's Pocket Wine Guide 2002

** => *** "...steady quality, stylish wine, repays patience. At minor crû classé level."

Classification : Cru Bourgeois Supérieur of Haut-Médoc in 1932 and again in the 2003 classification.
Situation : In the St Laurent Médoc area and in the direct neighbourhood of the vineyards of Gruaud Larose, Lagrange, Belgrave and Camensac.
The Vineyard comprises 45 hectares (113 acres) of a single tenant, planted on a mound of first class gravel on a base of iron rich sandstone, a little more sandy to the east, a little more clayey to the west. The vine varieties are of 60% cabernet sauvignon, 3% petit verdot and 37% merlot.
The average age of the vines is 25 years.
The density of planting is the traditional, but nowadays getting scarce, 10.000 vines per hectare.
Harvesting is 70% manual and 30% machine.
The wine making follows very much the pattern of the "Grand Cru" chateaux. The grapes are destalked, then slightly crushed and sent into fermentation vats which are either stainless steel or cement with an epoxy coating and allways thermo-regulated. Fermentation is led at the temperature of 28/30° celsius with light "over the top" pumping for a soft extraction of the skins.
The maceration can last three weeks.
The ageieng of 12 months is made exclusively in the 1.000 french barrels of 225 L., of which 25% are renewned each year.
The wine is fined with egg-whites and finally bottled at the vineyard 20 months after the harvest.

History of the vineyard

The vineyard was first reported in 1648 when a local Landlord, Denys de Mullet of La Tour St Lambert rented it to a farmer in exchange of the wines produced.

Caronne is derived from "Carona" for a local spring source, and Gemme a corruption of "James ".
In the middle-ages the locality was a parish on the grounds of a subsidiary to the Templar Commanderie at nearby Benon a few kilometers inland. Pilgrims on their way to Santiago di Compostella, having crossed the estuary from Blaye, would rest here before continuing their way across the Landes to the Spanish Border.

The Parish was abolished during the Revolution and it is about this time that the first records of wine production at Caronne begin to emerge.

In 1900 ownership of Caronne passed to Emile and Eugène Borie. The sons of Eugène would later cede their shares to their uncle and purchase Ch. Batailley and later Ducru-Beaucaillou whilst Emile's descendance would remain sole owner of Caronne until this day.

The property is now managed by Jean, little son of Emile and François, his nephew.