25th June 2019 | Life at Virgin Wines | 14 minute read
We were fortunate enough to spend a few days exploring one of the powerhouses of French wine production earlier this month. Sophie Lord, our lovely wine buyer, had the tough job of leading the team. Here she shares her story of visiting the esteemed Châteaux of Bordeaux and provides a unique behind-the-scenes glimpse of this iconic wine region. Over to you, Soph!
Our first stop on the trip was Château Fombrauge, the largest Grand Cru Classé of Saint-Émilion. The lavish estate, owned by Bernard Magrez, is a 16th century mansion with a vineyard area stretching over 58.60 hectares. The château is surrounded by immaculately tended gardens featuring two impressive 1,000 year old olive trees.
We were greeted by our tour guide Perig, who kindly showed us around the spectacular vineyards. One look at the pristine land and it’s clear to see that winemakers in Bordeaux are not afraid to spend big bucks to protect their vines. In fact, among these vineyards roams a robot unique called TED, who helps with weed control. He’s 100% electric and eliminates the need for harsh chemical herbicides.
Perig also told us that they’d had to take extraordinary measures this year to protect against frost. As they’d had an uncharacteristically warm spring, the vines sprung into action earlier than expected, leaving them vulnerable to frosts. So Château Fombrauge drafted in a helicopter to fly at low level over the vines in the mornings to keep the air circulating, stopping pockets of frost forming that would damage the new growth.
In spite of these high tech solutions, Château Fombrauge also prides itself on its traditional practices. Winemaking here is a very hands on process – from hand picking the grapes to manual pigéage (the breaking up the thick layer of skins, stems and seeds that forms at the surface of fermenting red wine). They also have a wide variety of fermentation vessels to hand – from cement and stainless steel tanks, to wooden vats and terracotta jars like the Romans used to use.
We were then treated to a sneak peak of the historic cellar, where we saw wines produced at Château Fombrauge from decades (even centuries) before. Feeling more like a museum in places, we found vintages from the swinging 60s, the roaring 20s and even further back. Sadly there were no bottles remaining from the very first harvest in 1599, but we did discover vintages in the cellar from 1895 and 1870!
After a delicious wine tasting to round off the tour, we headed into the beautiful town of Saint-Émilion for a little potter around. Walking around this charming French town truly feels like you’ve stepped back in time, but with the addition of a wine shop every 10 paces or so. The streets of the town centre are a real treat both for wine enthusiasts and tourists, and I can understand why crowds flock here over the summer.
In the afternoon we headed to the northwest of Saint-Emilion, to Château La Dominique. In complete contrast to the classic style of Château Fombrauge and the medieval streets of Saint-Emilion town we had visited that morning, Château La Dominique is one of the most modern wineries in the Bordeaux region.
On arrival, Château La Dominique makes a big impression. You can tell straight away that this isn’t your average winery. The original building of traditional stone and timber architecture has been extended in recent years with a contemporary red mirror cladded structure, designed by world-renowned French architect Jean Nouvel.
The striking red stainless steel panels get deeper in colour as they ascend the building, designed to resemble the multi-tonal look of Claret (which is another name for Bordeaux red wine). At the top of the building is a rooftop terrace and restaurant that features a vast red glass pebble floor. Diners are encouraged to walk across the red pebbles, which is reminiscent of grapes being pressed the old-fashioned way.
Here we enjoyed a three course meal, each dish served with a different wine from the region, and enjoyed the scenic vineyard views from the rooftop. This is where you can also see one of Château La Dominique’s most famous neighbours – Château Cheval Blanc – and in the distance you can just make out the esteemed Château Pétrus in the bordering Pomerol appellation.
With our stomachs nice and full, we embarked on a tour of the winery to see the cutting edge technology used at La Dominique. Our lovely host Claudia talked us through how they are currently experimenting with terracotta amphora and cement eggs to see how old-fashioned fermentation techniques shape flavour versus modern stainless steel tanks and oak barrels. There is a clear sense of passion for their craft and desire to understand the art of winemaking inside out at La Dominique, and their enthusiasm is infectious. So much so, I find myself thinking I may just have to return to sample the results of their fermentation experiment myself…
The plan for day two of the trip was to explore the prestigious Médoc region. En route to our first winery of the day, we couldn’t resist a quick pit stop at one of the most notably picturesque châteaux of Bordeaux, Château Pichon Baron. A charming 19th century castle sits in the centre of the famous vineyard, and it truly looks like something straight from a fairy tale. Sadly we couldn’t stop for longer than a few minutes, but we had to take a moment to appreciate this iconic winery.
We then arrived at our destination, at the most high tech winery I have ever had the pleasure of visiting, Château Pedesclaux.
Nestled between the world-famous estates of Château Lafite Rothschild and Château Mouton Rothschild, this lesser-known Paulliac winery founded in 1810 has experienced a revival in recent years. Technical manager, Vincent Bache-Gabrielsen, explained there had been an ambitious expansion and overhaul of the vineyards, winery and château (designed by Jean-Michel Wilmotte) which was completed in 2014. This included the addition of two glass wings added either side of the original château (one of which is their tasting room) and the construction of a state of the art, gravity-fed winery next door. It has really put Château Pedesclaux on the map as one of the pioneering wineries of Bordeaux.
I was particularly interested to hear about how the winemakers are currently trialling organic and biodynamic winemaking practices, and then fermenting these grapes separately to see how the wines will differ in taste. There is a huge movement in Bordeaux at the moment advocating organic agriculture, but biodynamics (which actually predates organics) combines organic agriculture with holistic approach to the whole ecosystem of the vineyard. It comes as no surprise to me that Château Pedesclaux is using its modern approach to test which production method suits their vines best before they will decide whether to roll this out across all of their wines.
After seeing the winery I was excited to try their wines. Being in the Left Bank of Bordeaux, the wines here have a higher proportion of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend (whereas in the Right Bank wines tends to have more Merlot). We then ventured into one of the glass wings of the château, with excellent views of the vines and the ominous dark clouds rolling in behind them.
After a fantastic tasting, the dark clouds that had been threatening thunder all morning decided that now was the perfect time to open the heavens – just as we were about to make our way out through the vineyards. Thankfully, Vincent was there to save the day, arranging for a golf buggy to take us through the grounds.
Originally a priory for Benedictine monks, Château Prieure Lichine in Margaux was the final stop on our whirlwind tour of Bordeaux. Over the years, wine produced at this vineyard has been sold under various names, including Prieure-Cantenac and La Prieure, following the estate being split and sold off to different surrounding appellation during the French Revolution. The estate was brought back together again in 1951 by wine merchant Alexis Lichine, and has been expanded a few times since then to become the 77.5 hectares of vineyards we see today.
On arrival, Etienne greeted us with a glass of bubbly, and in the background we heard the thud of air cannons firing every six seconds over the vineyards. Although this sounded ominous, it is actually a harmless practice where a shockwave is fired into the clouds to reduce the risk of hail which would damage the new growth on the vines. Etienne explained that local château owners had clubbed together to invest in them after a previous vintage had been all but destroyed in an afternoon due to hail.
After a wonderful three course lunch, we made our way to the winery and cellars. The recent modern additions of the 34 tulip shaped, concrete fermentation tanks, stood side by side with traditional oak barrels and the antique corking machine (although we were assured that the corking machine was for display rather than to be used). You could see where winemaking in Bordeaux had come from and where it was headed all in one space.
This marked the end of our trip. We headed back to the airport with a better appreciation of the huge efforts that go into the wine making process, from grape to glass. Bordeaux was an absolutely wonderful experience, and a region I suggest every wine-lover endeavours to visit.
