Chateau Micalet, Haut-Medoc, 2022

Rather than changing everything when taking over from the previous generation, brothers Damien and Dominique are moving forward with the vision of their father. Very much concerned with the well-being of anyone working and living around his vineyards, Dad never used herbicides and kept ploughing his vines with a horse the way he used to in his youth. Organic certification, the logical next step, was obtained in 2009. In the cellar the idea is to let the deep sandy gravels shine so fermentation takes place in stainless steel, maceration lasts 20 to 30 days and a third new oak is used for the élevage. The style here is very much old school classic, their wines show all the class and restraint that generated such excitement for the region before the arrival of 1980s and all the gadgets that came with it.