Mayne comes from the word "manor", which used to mean "a fine house surrounded by a certain amount of land".
The old description and the modern concept to be drawn from the term are both eminently suitable to describe this magnificent property built between the end of the 15th and the early 16th centuries.. The trace of the Laveau family can be followed through the history of the Château. The numerous branches of the family included a many bankers and negociants. One branch even made a fortune in trading with the West Indies. The others opted for investing in land.
The Laveau can be traced back to Grand Mayne as early as 1685. Jacques Laveau, called "The Elder", was the first to settle at Mayne (with 136 hectares including 30 under vines), but it was his son, Jean, called "Son of the Elder", who was to become "the prince of Libourne vineyards". In 1811, he bought
Château Soutard for a song from the Combret de Milon family, who were in dire financial straits. That enabled him to extend his estate to some 250 hectares, including 62 hectares of vines on the plateau, the hillside and the foot of the sandy slopes.
The attentive and loving care lavished by the "Son of the Elder" on his vines served to raise the reputation of the wine to the very highest level, as testified by its price and by the indications given in the FERET.
Unfortunately, the cascading dominoes of inheritance rapidly put an end to the Laveau empire, and the current estate, now called Grand Mayne, includes just 21 hectares, with 17 in the great classified growth category, the very heart of the former estate.
The Laveau were followed in turn by the Puchaud, the Massip in 1893, the Termes-Dubroca, Briloin and Chavaroche up until 1922. .
Finally, Jean Nony, a wine negociant from the Corrèze, who had set up business in the Chartrons wine trade district of Bordeaux, purchased Grand Mayne in 1934 from Noël Berbudeau, right in the middle of the aftermath of the 1929 stock market crash..
Jean Pierre (son of Jean Nony) and Marie Françoise Nony have managed the estate from 1977 to 2001.
Since the death of her husband Jean Pierre, Marie-Françoise Nony continue to manage surrounded by a competent team and her two sons Jean Antoine and Damien.
Geographic location :
The vineyard is located to the west of Saint Emilion, at the foot of the plateau, in the centre of the commune.
It has an exceptional altitude of 55 metres above sea level.
Geography of the soils :
The vineyard is planted on the hillside and at the foot of the slope.
On the hillside : clay-limestone soil
At the foot of the hillside : old sand over clay
Facing south-west.
Area :
19 hectares (47,5 acres), including 17 uninterrupted hectares (42,5 acres) in the great classified growth category.
Grape varieties : 76% Merlots
13% Cabernets francs
11% Cabernets sauvignons
Average age of the vines : 30 years
Planting density : 5,500 shoots per hectare
CULTIVATION TECHNIQUES
Working of the soil :
- Part at the foot of the hill : ploughing
- Part up the hillside : natural, spontaneous and then provoked grassing, to combat erosion and to establish competition between the grass and the vine, thus reducing yields.
Vines :
- Bordeaux style pruning (two canes, with no return)
- Removal of buds and elimination of the base bud during de-suckering
Crop thinning throughout the vineyard, especially on the young planted shoots which are carefully individualised
- Double manual leaf stripping (first in July, and again in August)
- Managed control, with analysis of each plot to ensure individual treatment for each plot.
HARVESTING
Average yield : 35 hectolitres per hectare
Entirely manual harvesting, with collection in 50 litre wooden tubs
Sorting of the harvest in the vineyard and on a table in the cellars (10 people employed in table sorting)
Total de-stemming.
VINIFICATION
Bringing-in of the harvest into vats
Temperature-controlled stainless steel vats since 1973
Temperature-controlled wooden vats as from the 2000 vintage
Alcoholic fermentation in vats (5 to 10 days)
Vatting for 24 to 30 days
Transfer into new barrels, in a new, air-conditioned barrel cellar at 22°C
The transfer into barrels enables maintenance of the natural condition of the vinification vats. Malolactic fermentation in the barrel provides a better symbiosis between the wood and the wine.
AGEING
Two racking operations :
- the first after the malolactic fermentation,
- the second in April
Ageing for 18 to 24 months in barrels (80% to 100% of new barrels depending on the grape varieties and on the vintage)
Final blending in the course of the second winter
No fining or filtration
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