Saumur Blanc Robert & Marcel Héritage cuvée Excelsior

Grape variety Chenin Blanc

Soil Draining clay-limestone soil over Middle Turonian tufa.
Parcel-by-parcel selection of our winemakers' finest Chenin plots.
In the vineyard, the vines are split and the leaves are thinned out on the sunny side, and yields are controlled. Ripeness is pushed to the limit, the harvest date is carefully determined and the grapes are picked when the sun has nicely gilded them.

Vinification At harvest, the grapes are meticulously preserved for skin maceration in the press. They are then gently pressed in a pneumatic press. Alcoholic fermentation takes place at low temperature in stainless steel tanks over a fortnight. Malolactic fermentation then takes place in stainless steel tanks, depending on vintage conditions. The wines are aged on their lees for 6 months, with regular batonnage, then transferred to 500-liter French oak barrels.

Barrel ageing lasts 18 months in the barrel cellar in our troglodytic caves 25m below the surface. Humidity and temperature conditions are ideal for maturing this wine.
Once bottled, the wine is also kept protected from light, vibrations and at a constant temperature at the bottom of these underground galleries for a year.