Château de la Jaubertie
Ryman's name is not necessarily immediately associated with the world of wine, but rather with brick-and-mortar stores in English cities. There is an explanation for this. Henry J Ryman opened the first store bearing his name in London in 1893 and soon the store began to focus on the sale of stationery and stationery. Ryman's name was linked to the wine world only decades later, when the third generation of the family business, Desmond and Nicholas Ryman, decided in 1972 to sell the store chain founded by their grandfather, which had grown into a million-dollar business, and Nicholas moved to France to become a wine grower.
Nicholas discovered the Château de la Jaubertie estate in the Monbazillac region of southwestern France, which in the 16th century was first used by Henri IV as a hunting lodge and later as the residence of Marie Antoinette's favorite doctor. After acquiring the land for his family's ownership in 1973, he began to focus on viticulture. The nurseries, covering just under 50 hectares, grow the same varieties as in the nearby and better-known Bordeaux region. The climatic conditions in the nurseries are more continental than in the neighboring area, which, thanks to the dry summers, makes it easier to work organically in the nurseries. The conversion of the orchards to organic production began in 2005 - the same year that the estates were listed as a historical monument - and three years later the entire wine production was certified as organic.
Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, Muscadelle, Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc are cultivated as white varieties on the farm. The range of red varieties includes Merlot, Malbec, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon, as well as the region's old varieties Mérille and Fer Servadou. Since 2008, the new Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon and Cabernet Sauvignon vines have been selected from the farm's own orchards, while the Cabernet Franc is obtained from Saint Emilion.
The farm's shelter areas are divided into three parts. In the plateau region, where the soil consists of white limestone and reddish-brown clay, red varieties are cultivated, which receive sufficient moisture even in dry summers. In the hillside orchards around the plateau, white varieties are cultivated, especially Sauvignon Blanc, because it thrives in the abundant limestone soil and enjoys a versatile amount of sunlight due to the slope variations, which produces a wide spectrum of different aromas in the wines. Especially the varieties used for rosé wines grow in deeper and wetter orchards, where the gray clay soil, including the common boulbène on the right bank of Bordeaux, delays the ripening of the grapes until a later time.
The time of harvesting is decided based on the aromas and flavors of the grapes, the pH value, the sugar content and the amount of tannins in the red varieties. The white grapes are harvested at the coolest time of the day, early in the morning. If necessary, they are also cooled to 5-8°C, which contributes to the preservation of the fruity aromas. The white varieties are vinified in partially used French oak barrels and are allowed to settle in peace. Red wines are used at low temperatures, sometimes using cold maceration lasting a few days, and pressed at the end of fermentation, when the extracted tannins are palatable. Red wines are bottled without filtering.
Nick Ryman's son Hugh Ryman, who is known especially in England as the so-called revolutionizing the quality of everyday wines. After completing his studies in oenology, Hugh has been making wines as a winemaker flying around the world, and in addition to Jaubertie, he has been running a company he founded called Vinartus, focused on winemaking and branding, since 2001.
