Château Carsin is located in the "Premières Côtes de Bordeaux", literally the "first hills of Bordeaux". Travellers coming eastwards from the Atlantic pass through the Landes forest, and then the wine region of Graves, which is just across the Garonne River from the hilly Premières Côtes.
These hills run along the eastern bank of the Garonne upstream from the city of Bordeaux. They are essentially composed of clay-limestone soil, with gravel topsoil. A high concentration of clay is best suited for growing Merlot grapes. Earlier on we were particularly interested in Château Carsin's gravely soil, because this is ideal for Semillon and other white grape varieties, which were then our main priorities. Now we also plant Merlot vines in some of the more gravely parcels as well as experimenting with old Bordeaux red varieties such as Carmenere and Petit Verdot.
Because of the diverse nature of the soils in the Premières Côtes de Bordeaux, it is quite normal for a single producer to have vineyard plots dispersed throughout a "commune". Some parcels are often in other nearby villages. As an indication of how fragmented vineyards can be, most plots are only a fraction of a hectare. We have been able to acquire at least part of Château Carsin's original vineyards. Larger plots are considerably more economical than small ones because the vine rows are longer and less time is spent manoeuvring tractors and machinery.
Many new vines have been planted at Château Carsin since we took over the estate (the first vintage was in 1990). The policy was to do all necessary planting from the outset. The middle of the Carsin plain was replanted during the early spring of 1992, increasing the area under vine by over 3 hectares. Due to the lack of demand for generic Bordeaux white wines, the cost of buying fruit from elsewhere in the area has been relatively low. However, we think that it is very important for us to control our own fruit and therefore we continue to plant our own vineyard with new vines.
Château Carsin bought another property, called Domaine de l'Esclade, in late 1990. This second estate's vines are scattered throughout the village of Rions and Laroque.
Soil structure is important in regulating water uptake. As a rule of thumb, clay soil produces strong wines, and gravel well-balanced ones.
We are looking for a bouquet of considerable finesse as well as good body and a long aftertaste in Semillon, our main white grape variety. Characteristics such as these are acquired by growing vines in a variety of soils. Our vineyards have clear differences in soil composition and these all play a part in the final blend.
