Technology serving Tradition:
Since the first vines were planted by the Castor family, quality and excellent work have always been the prime objective through all the generations.
With the arrival of Gérard Castor as head of the Chateau Saint Nabor, new ideas were introduced. The production of high quality wines were guaranteed by new, advanced technological knowledge of winemaking as well as higher quality materials. Nothing about the winemaking process is left to chance. From the day the vine is planted up until bottling, all the steps are rigorously checked.
Everyone knows that good grapes are needed to produce a good wine and this is why the vineyards are of the utmost importance. Agriculture on the estate is conducted in a manner in which the environment is respected (“Agriculture Raisonnée”); this makes the link between man and earth even stronger. The vineyards are being managed in a way that will improve the growing condition of the vine in a safe environment; all this is achieved by reinforcing the self defense capacity of the vine. The application of chemicals is done only during critical times and complementary in the case of high parasitic pressure. All of this is done to express the Terroir, rich and unique to each plot, which will bring different characteristics to the wines.
For over 20 years, grapes have been harvested by machine. During those years, the vineyards have been manipulated to be harvested by the machine. Knowledge has also expanded, which allows achieving quality equal to a manual harvest. The machine harvester is replaced every 5 years; however it is serviced every year and is like new before harvest.
Using this machine, it takes 5 weeks to harvest all the grapes for the season. The machine also allows reacting fast if an emergency situation should arise. This ensures the quality of the grapes to be preserved until it reaches the cellar.
The first-rate winemaking process is supervised by performing numerous analyses. These analyses are performed throughout the whole process up until bottling.
All the above describes the objectives of the Castor family to produce superb, high quality wines from high quality materials. This is the best example of the association between Tradition and Technologie; a combination that might appear detonating, but it is oenologically efficient.