In Bordeaux I have been teaming up with Tom Mullen who is a contributing writer about wine for Forbes magazine. Our mission is finding hiddem gems in the big famous region of Bordeaux. This road pointed us to Château Gaby in the Canon Fronsac wine region. To be clear, Canon Fronsac is a smaller sub-appellation in the bigger Fronsac region which lies right next to the Dordogne River. Maybe this region is not as famous as the neighbouring Pomerol and St. Emilion but that is actually good as the quality is the same and even better but way less priced! Find out why Château Gaby is one of the best Canon Fronsac wines…
Château Gaby – Certified organic winemaking
The château has a gorgeous setting on the top of the hill overlooking their vines. We met Damien Landouar who is the managing director of Château Gaby plus three other châteaux in the Bordeaux wine region. Château Gaby has 16 hectares of land in use and is certified organic!
Note: This is myself with Damien Landouar
Note: This is myself with Damien LandouarThe grape varieties are mainly Merlot with a small percantage of Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. Different plots have different soil types, at the top of the hilll it starts off with lime stone soil and going down it becomes clay, blue clay and at the bottom sand and clay, interesting mix it is!
Château Gaby – Music and vines
Before we talk wine, Château Gaby has started a very interesting experiement with music and vines. There is a musicbox between a plot of vines which plays music twice a day. This is done at 85 decibels and only at frequent times. Water on the vines vibrates which gives the plants a message. Studies have shown this improves immunity of the vines to disease. Also, they have not sprayed the plot like the others ones and so far they experienced that this particular plot flowers much faster and there is less disease. I absolutely love it!
Château Gaby – Tasting time
We were lucky to try the 2020 vintage from the tank just after the fermentation. Every wine is already very expressive on the nose. On the palate there are layers of fruit, plus the wines are incredibly smooth. That is quite remarkable for such young wines. When we tasted Château Gaby wines, all aged for about 20 months in oak barriques, from 2008 up until 2014, it all became very clear – these wines are outstanding.
Château Gaby is made of 80 % Merlot, 10 % Cabernet Franc and 10 % Cabernet Sauvignon. The ageing potential is huge, you can age these wines for about 25 years and maybe more! All the wines are very complex with beautifully balanced tannins and acidity. A few of my wine notes…
Château Gaby 2008: tertiary aromas of prunes, tobacco, earth and forest with hints of truffles that all ended up in a very long silky smooth finish. My mouth is watering again just by thinking of this wine.
Château Gaby 2011: On the nose black fruits with an explosion of flavours on the palate…cherries, black fruits, spices and smoke.
Château Gaby 2012: This wine is nice and spicy! Full bodied with dark berry flavours, liquorice dutch ‘drop’ flavours (my favorite kind) with hints of vanilla, a delight!
Château Gaby – Accomodation
If you want to make your visit to Gaby even more special, stay overnight! You can book this château for your perfect wine holliday amongst the vineyards. Kick back with a glass of wine by the pool or admire the great art selection inside the Château. A city escape to Bordeaux is just a 40 minutes drive away. If you are visiting between April and September you might get to hear the musicbox experiment to the vines!
Make sure to visit Château Gaby if you are in the region (phone in advance for an appointment) otherwise definitely try some of their wines. I promise, you wont regret it, Salut!
Would you like to learn more about this region? Go to my blog with the 3 TOP Châteaus of Fronsac wine region.
