CHATEAU CLOS LES LUNELLES COTES DE CASTILLON 2019

When Gérard and Chantal Perse — owners of Premier Grand Cru Classé Château Pavie — acquired this 9-hectare site in 2001, they were betting on Castillon's clay-limestone plateau as a direct geological continuation of the Saint-Émilion shelf. Clos Lunelles sits in Sainte-Colombe with vines averaging around 45 years old, planted at 5,500 per hectare. The 2019 blend of 80% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc, and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon was hand-harvested, cold-soaked, fermented with indigenous yeast on skins, and aged in new French oak without fining or filtration — blackberry, blueberry, and incense up front, with pliant tannins and crushed-stone minerality through the finish.