Freedom · White wine, Vin de France
Caprice2025
Still maturing in our cellar — released only in its drinking phase.
Arriving
Like an afternoon at Cap Ferret.
Flint and salt, slender and cool. A wine that goes its own way and stays precise.
Free in its ideas, yet played with precision – that is how a capriccio sounds, and how this wine tastes.
A mild winter, budbreak two weeks earlier than usual, then heavy rain over Easter that filled the water reserves. May through August ran consistently above average; August brought ten days above 35 degrees and almost forty days without appreciable rain. The dry white wines were therefore picked as early as August — some three weeks earlier than in a normal year, in the cool hours before sunrise. Yields were below the usual for the whites as well; across Bordeaux it was the smallest crop since 1991.
- Grape varieties
- 100% Alvarinho
- Drinking window
- 2028 – 2035
- Decanting
- aerate 30–60 min
Wind off the Atlantic
The first glass
The flavour profile of Caprice 2025
Caprice is Alvarinho from a single parcel at the edge of the forest, made in the reductive school of the great white Burgundies. In the glass it shows flint and wet stone, a salty trace and restrained yellow fruit; on the palate it stays slender, cool and precise. A white wine for curious drinkers, already a pleasure when young and able to age for years.
Why Caprice
A free form, played with precision.
A suite is a sequence of dances. Each has its own character, and only all together do they make the whole. That is how our estate is built: each cuvée is inspired by a movement of this suite and takes on the character of its form.The capriccio is one of the freest forms in music, full of ideas and yet played with great precision. Stravinsky gave his Capriccio for piano and orchestra exactly this blend of esprit and discipline. Our Caprice stands outside the sequence: a micro-cuvée from a single parcel at the edge of the forest, Alvarinho on Bordeaux soil, made in the reductive school. That is why there are only a few bottles of it, and why it tastes of flint and salt.
Caprice is our homage to freedom: independent in style, exact in execution.
Igor Stravinsky — Capriccio, 3rd movement
Maturity — how it drinks today
Still maturing in the cellar
Expected to be ready to drink: around 2028
Optimal drinking window of Caprice 2025
2028 – 2035
Our principles
Why we take the trouble
Ageing in our own cellar
Most of our wines go on sale only once they are ready to drink; until then they mature with us, and we carry the 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 takes time. We give the wines the years in barrel and bottle that they need.
Organic & HVE4
The Domaine's vineyards are certified organic and HVE4, set within a 19-hectare ecosystem of woodland, meadows, water and vines.
The terroir and the wine it yields
Where it comes from
The blend of Caprice 2025
A single-variety wine, one origin
- 100%Alvarinho
Precision & method
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 long-time owner of the estate. We work in that tradition: each plot analysed and vinified separately, the ageing guided under control, drinking maturity checked in a blind tasting.
The second hour
After an hour in the decanter the reduction loses its edge, and flint and salt come through more clearly.
Your evening
A wine for the table.
Dishes to pair
A selection from our recipe kitchen, matched to the structure and maturity of this wine.
Almejas a la marinera – clams in white wine, garlic & parsley
Arroz caldoso de bogavante – soupy lobster rice with saffron
Bacalao al pil-pil – cod in emulsified garlic oil
Brandade de morue – Provençal salt cod cream, gratinated
Chipirones a la andaluza – fried baby squid with lemon
Crudo di gamberi rossi – raw red prawns, Sicilian style
Grilled duck breast in Mediterranean herb marinade
Flétan rôti, sauce hollandaise & green asparagus
The mood to match the wine
A playlist for the moment
If you are a friend of classical music, here is a playlist that may suit your evening and the character of this wine. One possibility among many; listen in, if you like.
Ageing in bottle
Not yet ready to drink
Expected to be ready to drink: around 2028
For us, a vintage is ready to drink only once an internal blind tasting declares it so. When that will be, we ourselves never know exactly.
Frequently Asked Questions · Caprice 2025
Good to know
Technical data sheet · Caprice 2025
| Wine | Caprice 2025 |
|---|---|
| Estate | LaSuite aux Conseillans |
| Origin | Saint-Caprais-de-Bordeaux, France |
| Type | white wine |
| Appellation | Vin de France |
| Grape varieties | 100% Alvarinho |
| Maturity | probably at its best from 2028 |
| Drinking window | 2028 – 2035 |
| Decanting | aerate 30–60 min |
| Viticulture | Organic-certified vineyards, HVE4 |
| Formats | 0.75 L |
| Place in the Suite | Outside the sequence, a micro-cuvée; “Freedom” |
| Musical reference | Igor Stravinsky — Capriccio, 3rd movement |
| Item number | LS-CAPR-25-075 |
The vintages
Caprice through the years
Every vintage plays the same movement, each in its own key. The bar shows when a vintage opens and how long it carries; the line marks today.
-
2023
Ready to drink
A warm year with a long harvest, aged in a small wooden cask; 101 bottles.
Drinking window 2024 – 2033In the library - 2025 Maturing in the cellar
A mild winter, budbreak two weeks earlier than usual, then heavy rain over Easter that filled...
Drinking window 2028 – 2035This vintage - 2026 Maturing in the cellarView in the cellar
The repertoire
The other movements of the Suite
Each cuvée has its own voice, from the rosé to the red that needs decades. In weak years we skip one entirely; that is why the repertoire is rarely complete.
We release each wine only when we would most like to drink it ourselves.Marc & Ellen Ruhland
For us, time is an ingredient.