Chateau Coutet IBO

by Aug 8, 2019Wine reviews0 comments

More than rare, Chateau Coutet’s Émeri is 100% UNIQUE.

Sure, every wine producer will tell you that their wine is unique, which may be true in a way, like we are all different. But everything is one of kind with a bottle of Émeri. The vineyards in the heart of the best Grand Cru sites of Saint-Émilion grown using organic practices by the same family for over 400 years. The wine made from ancient grapes using no modern power source.

Every numbered bottle has been individually hand-crafted by a master glassblower following the finest French glass-making tradition. While the flask is entirely sealed, keeping the rare beverage away from oxygen, built to defy time and allow an exceptional vintage 2016 wine to withstand the centuries to come…

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About Chateau Coutet: unique family-owned and organically farmed property in Saint-Emilion

Nestled among the most prestigious Grand Cru properties, on the limestone plateau of Saint-Emilion where some of the finest Bordeaux wines are extracted from a rare terroir, Chateau Coutet has been owned and operated by the same family of wine makers for over 400 years, since 1601.

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Not only have the David-Beaulieu family members cared enough about their jewel estate to hold on to it for 14 generations, and perhaps because they have lived on the property for this long, they have also always put an emphasis on respecting their land using organic farming techniques.

To this day on Coutet’s estate still live members of  three generations of the owning David-Beaulieu family, while the winery is operated by Alain, Adrien and Matthieu.

Vineyards of Chateau Coutet are located 500 meters from the historic village of Saint-Emilion on a hill surrounded by some of the most prestigious names in the appellation such as Chateau Angelus, Beauséjour-Bécot, or Chateau Canon.

Grape varieties are composed of ancient forms of Merlot and Cabernet Franc, of the same type that were grown centuries ago and passed on from generation to generation.

The Merlot a queue rouge and the Bouchet (Cab Franc) are planted at a relatively high density of 6000 plants per hectare on a high point of the Saint-Emilion limestone plateau and going downhill towards the ‘Pied de Côte’.

Among the vines, a quarter of the small 16-ha property (40 acres) is also covered in parcs and woods where a unique biodiversity lives.

Like the grapes, rare species of orchids and other indigenous flowers, insects and birds thrive in an environment where no herbicide, pesticide or any modern chemical product have ever been used.

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Watch Chateau Coutet & Émeri presentation video:

Chateau Coutet’s flagship Émeri Cuvée

To craft their best wine, Coutet selected their oldest vineyards on the estate’s best terroirs, low-yielding 95-year-old vines of Merlot and 67-year-old Cabernet Franc.

Men and horses provide the power needed to grow the grapes and make Émeri wine. No gas and minimal electricity are ever used in the vineyard or the winery to ensure not only a minimal impact on the environment but also that the wine tastes authentically like a traditional Bordeaux Grand Cru used to. The expert winemaking knowledge only is modern here to ensure the best is extracted from these natural grapes.

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The yeasts that are used are those that live in the vineyards and that naturally ferment the wine. Grapes are de-stemmed by hand, the wine transferred by gravity into French oak barrels where it matures for 18 months, as is traditional in Bordeaux.

The result is a wine made like no other and acclaimed by wine critics, one going as far as giving this exceptional 2016 vintage a perfect 100/100-point score.

A hand-crafted glass bottle to age Émeri for decades

In the early 2000s at Chateau Coutet, buried underground in the cellar, was found a glass bottle, still full of wine and sealed with a heart-shaped glass stopper.  Experts dated its origin to circa 1750, making it the oldest unbroken and full bottle of wine ever found in Saint-Emilion, perhaps even the whole of the Bordeaux region. The wine level inside the bottle is as high as it was when bottled some 270 years ago, and the beverage still looks surprisingly vibrant and red.

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To reproduce these perfect air-tight aging conditions and pay tribute to this exceptional discovery, Chateau Coutet asked one of the best glassblowers in France to craft an absolutely identical bottle. After years of development to find the exact same glass composition and shape, and to perfect the seal and aesthetic of the heart stopper, the cuvée Émeri was born, ready to withstand time and preserve the flavors of Coutet’s best grapes for many decades to come…

Watch how the unique bottle of Émeri Cuvée is hand-crafted in video:

By Julien Miquel

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