2000 Vieux Château Champs de Mars 'Johanna,' Côtes de Castillon

The sandy clay-limestone terroir of Champs de Mars is beautifully suited to Merlot, which comprises 80% of the wine’s blend, complemented by 20% Cabernet Franc. Named after his granddaughter, “Johanna” was Régis Moro’s top wine, containing his oldest vines (70 years on average, with a parcel planted in 1904) and employing a more serious élevage than the “basic” cement-aged Champs de Mars bottling. The 2000 “Johanna” was hand-harvested, destemmed completely, given a 48-hour pre-fermentation maceration, and vinified in 50-hectoliter tronconic oak casks for 60 days with manual punch-downs; it then spent 18 months in well-used 225-liter barrels clarifying naturally, and was bottled without fining or filtration.