Outside the Suite
Le Ton Variation rouge 4
Red wine · Merlot-dominant Bordeaux blend with Cabernet Franc · 2016
Ready to drink · Released 2023Le Ton Variation rouge 4
The tone of the house
Le Ton is the wine that emerges when you let things take their course.
Le Ton stands outside our Suite. Here we gather wines and barrels that go their own way: they convince us in the glass, yet fit into no cuvée. Too independent for the Suite, too good to disappear. Each bottling receives its own number, the Variation, and may taste quite different from the one before. What remains is the tone of the house, the keynote between the movements.
- Vintage
- 2016
- Grape varieties
- Merlot, Cabernet Franc
- Analysis
- 13.5% vol · pH 3.69
- Edition
- 4711 bottles
Tonight
In the middle of its drinking window
- Temperature
- 14–17 °C
- Decanting
- Not necessary, but it does it good
- Drinking window
- 2020–2030
At midday, when every table is taken
Lightly chilled, at 14–17 °C. It does not need decanting, but a little air does it good.
The first glass
What you taste
Dark cherry and blackberry, with a herbal note from the Cabernet Franc. Juicy and round on the palate; the tannins have softened over the years. A red for the table that likes hearty food.
The world of Le Ton rouge
Like an evening in a good country bistro.
For your cellar
Available formats
Le Ton Variation rouge 4, Edition 4711 bottles. Shipped directly from the estate — climate-controlled storage in our own cellar.
Opens an e-mail to boutique@chateaulasuite.com.
On the board
From the cellar
When a vintage leaves the house
The 2016 vintage was characterized by a very rainy season until May. Flowering proceeded correctly and uniformly. The dry conditions from June until harvest favored a slow and even ripening of the grapes. The weather conditions ensured an excellent degree of ripeness.
A wine is released here only in the year in which it is ready to drink — not in the chronological order of the vintages. As long as we still have the feeling, when we taste it ourselves, that a little more maturing could make it better, it stays in the cellar.
The terroir and the wine it yields
Where it comes from
The grapes for Le Ton rouge come from the Domaine’s plots, mostly from two of them: one on clay and one on gravel, which holds the warmth of the day. Even so, Le Ton is never a single-plot wine. It is made from individual barrels that went their own way and no longer fitted into any cuvée.
The parcel map
Click on a parcel number to find out more about it.Tap a parcel number to find out more about it.
- ClayCool and water-holding: depth, structure, a long life.
- Clay-gravelWhere two worlds meet: strength with finesse.
- GravelWarm and draining: energy, precision, lift.
- SandLight and open: freshness and a free hand.
The blend
2 Grape varieties
- Merlot
- Cabernet Franc
Precision & method
In the tradition of modern oenology
Aux Conseillans was for decades the Domaine of Jean Ribéreau-Gayon, whom the profession calls the “father 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.
Technical data sheet · Le Ton Variation rouge 4
| Wine | Le Ton Variation rouge 4 |
|---|---|
| Estate | LaSuite aux Conseillans |
| Origin | Saint-Caprais-de-Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France |
| Type | red wine |
| Appellation | AOC Cadillac |
| Grape varieties | Merlot, Cabernet Franc |
| Yield | 40 hl/ha |
| Released | 2023 |
| Analysis | 13.5% vol · pH 3.69 |
| Edition | 4711 bottles |
| Drinking window | 2020–2030 |
| Serving temperature | 14–17 °C |
| Decanting | Not necessary, but it does it good |
Le Ton rouge is the wine the kitchen drinks itself.
What comes next
LaSuite aux Conseillans · Saint-Caprais-de-Bordeaux