Clos Manou

The château

Françoise and Stéphane Dief made their first vintage in 1998: 600 bottles, with their garage for a cellar. Over 20 years the vineyard grew from 12 ares to 18 hectares, through purchases that included a cru artisan of 4 hectares and a cru bourgeois (a Médoc classification) of 7, always of vines planted at about 10,000 a hectare. The vines, at Saint-Christoly-Médoc and Couquèques, are 40 years old on average and include a parcel of Merlot planted in the 1850s. The soil runs from gravel near the estuary to sand on the lower slopes and the limestone of Couquèques. The vineyard is 53% Merlot, 43% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2% old Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot, from massal selections; no chemical weedkiller is used, though conventional treatments against mildew are not ruled out.

The grapes have been picked by hand into crates since 1998 and are sorted 2 times, the second on a vibrating table. The cellar at Saint-Christoly has a fully restored vat room of 600 square meters, 2 barrel cellars, concrete eggs of 7 hectoliters and terracotta jars of 8. The 2023 Clos Manou is 66% Cabernet Sauvignon, 27% Merlot, 6% Petit Verdot and 1% Cabernet Franc, the Merlot picked from September 14 to 23 and the Cabernets and Petit Verdot from September 26 to October 3; 70% was aged 17 months in new French oak barrels, 22% for 12 months in concrete eggs of 7 hectoliters and dolia of 13, and 8% for 6 to 8 months in terracotta jars of 8 hectoliters. In all, 70,000 bottles were made. The second wine, Petit Manou, spends 12 months in barrels that have held 1 and 2 vintages of Clos Manou.

At a glance

Appellation

Médoc

Commune

Saint-Christoly-Médoc, with vines at Couquèques

Classification

No classification

Owners

The Dief family, since 1998

Vineyard

About 18 hectares; vines 40 years old on average; 9,000 to 10,000 vines a hectare

Soil

Gravel, sand, the limestone of Couquèques Terroir of Médoc →

Grapes

Merlot 53%, Cabernet Sauvignon 43%, Cabernet Franc 2%, Petit Verdot 2%

Farming

No chemical weedkiller

Cellar

Picked by hand; the 2023: 70% for 17 months in new French oak, the rest in concrete eggs, dolia and terracotta jars

Production

70,000 bottles of Clos Manou in 2023

Wines

Clos Manou; Petit Manou