Chateau La Rame La Charmille

The wine’s blend is 60% Merlot and 40% Cabernet Sauvignon. The 5 ha of vines planted on clayey-limestone soils have an average age of 50 years old producing a yield of 45 hl/ha. The grapes are destemmed and the fermentations in stainless steel vats will last about 2-3 weeks at 25°C – 30°C. As for the ageing process, the two grape varieties are aged separately in french oak barrels for 12-14 months with 1/3 of new oak each year.

Expressive nose of black berries, cassis, plums, well integrated oak aromas fill the glass with hints of licorice and mocha. The tannins are elegant and fine grained, well structured and balanced, medium-bodied, a long fresh aromatic finish. It has a cellaring potential of 5 to 10 years depending on the vintage.

Château La Rame, “La Rame” meaning rock in old French, is located 40 kms to the south-east of the city Bordeaux in the Entre Deux Mers sub-region. It is situated on top of a hill on the left bank of the Garonne river overlooking Sauternes in the distance. The Château was the property of the Baron de Vertheuil during the French Revolution. In the late 19th century, the wine produced by Château La Rame was already considered to be the best dessert wine in the area winning a Gold Medal at the Universal Exhibition in Bordeaux in 1895 and also in Paris in 1900. In those days wine merchants of Bordeaux already regarded Château La Rame to be equivalent to a 1st Growth from Sauternes.

In 1956, Claude ARMAND acquired the 20 ha estate knowing the reputation of Château La Rame, as the family has a long history of working in the appellation’s vineyards from generation to generation. Claude started by improving the state of the vineyard and in 1969 with the help of his son Yves, they started restructuring the cellar to give back the Château its glorious reputation. Yves took over the running of the Château in 1980 and continued to strive for perfection. By passion and wanting to take the quality of the wine a step further, in 1983 Yves decided to create a special premium cuvée the “Réserve du Château”. Soon the French wine critics called it the local “Yquem” due to its excellent quality in reference to the famous Château d’Yquem from Sauternes, located on the opposite side of the Garonne river. It is of 1er Cru Classé quality as it often surpasses many Growth wines of Sauternes in blind tastings. In 1995 Robert Parker described the “Réserve du Château 1990” as a combination of Château Climens a 1st Growth of Barsac and Château Suiduiraut a 1st Growth of Sauternes. In 2000 a new cellar of 1,000m² was build to further improve the quality of the winemaking process and also increase the cellaring space. Since 2009 Château La Rame is managed by Yves’s children Grégoire and Angélique with her husband Olivier Allo, but Yves still has a watch-full eye on the estate.

Château La Rame also owns 8 ha of vineyards in the neighbouring appellation Cadillac, the parcels were purchased in the 1950s. The parcels with old vines are located on the plateau of Monprimblanc to the north of Sainte Croix du Mont. Under the name Château La Rame the family now also produce Bordeaux reds, whites, a rosé and a sweet Cadillac. The premium red “La Charmille” Cadillac Côtes de Bordeaux is named after the lieu-dit of the same name which derives from a type of tree planted on the estate called “charme” .