Originally a grand manor, the buildings of referred as Chateau Grand
Mayne date from the latter years of 15th and
16th century. Some of the earliest records showed the owners
were the Laveau family, who were certainly in residence by the 17th
century.
Under the tenure of Jacques Laveau the
estate amounted to 136 hectares of which 30 hectares were dedicated to vines. His son
Jean made his mark on the estate and in 1811 purchased the nearby Chateau
Soutard to increase his dominion to 250 hectares of which 62 hectares were
vines, earning him the name as the Prince of the Libourne Vines.
With the introduction of Napoleon’s
inheritance laws, however,
the estate was eventually broken up. The
heart of the property, amounting to just 21 hectares, was to become what today
is Grand Mayne. The property was passed to the Puchaud family, and then in 1893 the
Massip family, followed by the Termes-Dubroca, Briloin and Chavaroche families.
It ended up in the ownership of Noel
Berbudeau in 1922, and the current owner Jean Nony arrived in the scene by 1934. Jean
acquired the estate at a favorable price, due to the economic depression of the
era, and managed the estate single-handed until 1977, when his son Jean-Pierre
Nony took the reins.
With his death in 2001, his widow
Marie-Francoise Nony was put in charge, assisted by her sons Jean Antoine and
Damien. It lies to the west of St-Emilion, at the foot of the plateau, with
clay and limestone on southwest facing slopes, and a few vines on sandy soils
at the base.
There are 19 hectares of vines of which 17
hectares are in a single block which qualify for the Grand Cru Classe
classification. The vines are dominated by Merlot of 76%, with 13% Cabernet Franc
and 11% Cabernet Sauvignon, planted at a density of 5500 vines per hectare, at
average age of 30 years.
The vines are interplanted with grass to
compete with the vines and encourage the roots to dig deep for nutrients and
water. Green harvest is done in summer months to help control yields,
typically at 35 hl/ha.
Once harvested by hand, the fruit is destemmed at the
chai before fermentation in a mix of temperature controlled steel vats and
wooden vats.
The fruit is macerated for up to four
weeks, and then transferred to barrels of which 80-100% are new. The
wines complete malolactic fermentation in the wood, where it rests up to 24
months. It is then bottled without fining or filtration. The
grand vin is Chateau Grand Mayne and a second wine Les Plantes de Mayne is also
produced, much of which is sourced from the 2 hectares plot.
I have
recently tasted the 2008 vintage and below is my tasting note:
Appearance
Bright
and clear, it has deep ruby color, with garnet rims and legs.
Nose
Clean,
with medium (+) intensity aromas of black fruit of plum and dark cherries, pungent
spice of licorice, oak notes of cedar and vanilla, dairy notes of butter, kernel
notes of chocolate, maturity notes of forest floor. The wine is developing.
Palate
Dry with
medium acidity, the wine has medium tannin which is a ripe and well-integrated.
With medium (+) alcohol and medium body, it has medium flavors of black fruit
of plum and dark cherries, oak notes of cedar, sweet spice of cloves, dairy
notes of cream, kernel notes of chocolate. The wine has a medium finish.
Conclusion
Very
good quality St-Emilion, with an intense and complex nose showing a good range
of fruit, oak and development characters, the wine is elegant yet having robust
structure, demonstrating the typical regional style on a higher level, with a
fair concentration on palate and a decent length on the finish. Overall it is a
wine I found surprisingly good despite its relative obscurity, and in a better
vintage it would definitely worth looking out for.
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