Caprice
2023Released only when ready to drink — ready for the table.
Atlantic freshness meets southern texture. A wine that tests conventions and shifts boundaries.
Like its musical namesake, our Caprice was born from a creative whim – yet every detail of its vinification is meticulously crafted. Made from 100% Alvarinho grapes planted in 2016 on a small patch of sand at the edge of the forest, it ferments slowly in a glass demijohn and then matures gently on its fine lees.
On the palate, the Caprice surprises with an atypical richness for Alvarinho: salty minerality meets creamy texture, playful fruit meets cool precision. This interplay makes every tasting a joyful yet profound experience – just like a musical caprice, combining virtuoso lightness with masterful discipline.
0.75 L bottle · $59.00
Like its musical namesake, our Caprice was born from a creative whim – yet every detail of its vinification is meticulously crafted. Made from...
Caprice exists to allow freedom within clear rules – a deliberate choice beyond the appellation, not beyond precision.
Igor Stravinsky — Capriccio, 3rd movement
The flavour profile
Flinty, smoky minerality and a saline trace, with restrained yellow fruit. Reductive and linear on the palate: a taut, precise acidity sets the tone, the texture staying slender and cool rather than full. Vinified in barrique, aged in a glass demijohn — an Alvarinho with no second like it in Bordeaux: mineral, saline and full of tension into the long finish.
Zwei Jahre gereift
2023 (white): A warm year with successful flowering and fruit set, apart from slightly cooler periods in July. A tropically humid June brought the most severe downy mildew attacks in years; the remainder of the season was characterized by a "season in two halves" with heat spikes at the end of August/beginning of September and an unusually long harvest. The dry white wines are aromatic, precise, and fresh, with good acidity and moderate alcohol.
Optimal drinking window2024 – 2033
Decant before serving and pour at serving temperature.
Where it comes from
A single-varietal wine, one origin
Each plot is vinified separately; only at the end does the cuvée emerge. More about our terroirs.
Aged in our own cellar.
Aged under control in barrel and vinified plot by plot — then the years of bottle rest in our own cellar, until we consider the wine ready to drink.
In the tradition of modern oenology
Aux Conseillans was for decades the domaine of Jean Ribéreau-Gayon — one of the co-founders of modern oenology, founder of the Institute of Oenology at the University of Bordeaux (1949) and longtime owner of the estate. We work in this tradition: each plot analysed and vinified separately, the ageing guided under control, the release only after proven readiness to drink.
Why we take the trouble
Released only when ready to drink
We bring a vintage to market only when it is ready to drink. We carry the ageing risk.
Composed plot by plot
Each plot is vinified separately; only at the end do we compose the cuvée from them.
Time as an ingredient
Depth needs time. We give the wines the years in barrel and bottle that they need.
Organic & HVE 4
Certified organic, embedded in a 19-hectare ecosystem of woodland, meadows, water and vines.
A wine for the table.
A wine for curious people who want to try something completely different from Bordeaux – fresh, lively and wonderfully unique.
Dishes that pair well
A selection from our recipe kitchen, matched to the structure and maturity of this wine.
A playlist for the moment
This wine comes with a mood playlist on Spotify — a flowing companion as you drink. Listen in if you like; it isn't necessary.
We release each wine only when we most like to drink it ourselves.Marc & Ellen Ruhland
Good to know
When should I drink the Caprice?
How do I serve it?
Is this a typical Alvarinho?
Why do we call it the rule-break?
Which grape variety and plot does it come from?
How was it aged?
What does it pair with?
Is the wine organic?
The Coffret Dégustation
Three movements of the Suite in one box — Sarabande 2015, Gigue 2016 and Louré 2024. A first path through our wines.
Edition of 101 bottles. Shipped directly from the Château — climate-controlled storage in our own cellar.
For us, time is an ingredient.