Château Belle-Vue

Named Cru Bourgeois Exceptional in 2020, thanks to the commitment of a family and its historic terroir. Château Belle-Vue is a nugget of the South Médoc.

Château Belle-Vue was acquired in 2004 by Vincent Mulliez with Château de Gironville and Château Bolaire. Since his tragic death in 2010, his wife Isabelle has taken over the management of the estates. Under the benevolent and sparkling gaze of Vincent Mulliez, whose photo still adorns the tasting room at Château Belle-Vue, she continues with determination the work he had initiated, surrounded by a small team. After years of revitalizing the properties, in the vineyard as in the cellars and a passionate implication of more than 10 years, Vincent Bache-Gabrielsen, technical director of Château Pédesclaux, recently passed the baton to Yannick Reyrel, oenologist trained by Jean-Claude Berrouet. Her expertise in all areas related to the exploitation of wine-growing properties consolidates today the experience of Jérôme Pineau, stage manager, and Isabelle Pascual, executive assistant.

Château Belle-Vue comes from a terroir whose history merges with that of Bordeaux wine. Located in the typically Medoc commune of Macau, yesterday the seat of an active inland waterway, today renowned for its vineyards, cru is experiencing a real renaissance. The ideal combination of quality terroir and original grape varieties gives it a unique personality, valued by the commitment of the Mulliez family and their team.

Within easy reach of the Château Giscours (Grand Cru Classé de Margaux), which it adjoins the vineyard, Château Belle-Vue was renowned from the end of the 19th century. Integrated until 1995 at the Château de Gironville, its production was then marketed under this name. Since then, its development and the renovation of the operating site have allowed this vintage to stand on its own two feet.

Long unknown on the French market, this wine revives a tradition of high quality which had made its reputation for decades.

The rebirth of this vineyard, initiated from the 1996 vintage, is based on fundamental choices and new production data: selection of grape varieties, farming methods, development of qualitative potential during winemaking and aging.

In the process of developing Belle-Vue, all the interventions, both in the vineyard and in the cellar, contribute to restoring the terroir. The combination of tradition and modernity is a reference here.

Working the surface soil, planting green manure in winter, adding compost, everything is done to stimulate the microbiological life of the soil. Control of yields, with a vineyard planted at a density of almost 7000 vines / ha. The culture takes into account the main principles of reasoned protection (without any chemical weedkillers and using sexual confusion), with qualitative cultivation methods: disbudding, removal of cores, leaf stripping and thinning when this is necessary. Among the cutting-edge tools at the service of this vineyard, a specific plot program for supervision and monitoring of the ripeness of the berries has been implemented using an original tasting protocol, specially developed for the property by Vincent Bache. -Gabrielsen. A tool that is particularly useful in each new vintage where decisions regarding the choice of harvest dates prove to be decisive.

The revival of this 15 hectare vineyard would not have been possible without the presence of an exceptional terroir. In fact, the terroir of Sud-Médoc is very specific: it is there, between two rows of vines, that the 45th parallel passes, which marks the equidistance between the equator and the North Pole, a zone of equilibrium and climatic moderation, assisted by the double thermal shock absorber of the ocean and the Gironde estuary, located less than 2 km away.

Another major asset, the Sud-Médoc has a high concentration of gravel, pebbles and pebbles, transported for millennia and torn from the distant mountains of the Massif Central and the Pyrenees. Shaped in gravity by erosion, they have settled and constitute a generous heritage for each winemaker. During the ripening of the grape, the soils accumulate and reflect heat, a factor favorable to the concentration and aromatic finesse of the wines. A configuration which results in a weak - but regular - water supply, due to the very deep rooting of the vine. These natural data, added to the ideally temperate climate explain the concentration of sugars, polyphenols and aromas that sign wines that are both rich and complex.

The practical property of long pre-fermentation cold macerations (vats maintained between 0°C and 5°C for ten days) to obtain the best expression of fruit. The choice of load shedding allows a gentle extraction, allowing to combine power and finesse. Fermentation for 4 to 6 weeks will allow the wines to harmonize and give them this characteristic delicacy. The breeding then extends over a period of 14 to 18 months, with rackings limited to the strict minimum. Then the wine is bottled at the château after a light collage.

Combining finesse and power, Château Belle-Vue is often called a wine hedonistic by enophiles enlightened. A wine whose balance rests on an original aromatic palette. Among the reasons for this particularity, a choice of grape varieties where the Petit Verdot constitutes 15% of the total grape varieties, the Cabernet Sauvignon 50% and the Merlot Noir 35%. Almost as old as the Cabernets in Bordeaux, perfectly suited to the region of Sud-Médoc, the Petit Verdot appears, from the 17th century to the present day, in the grape varieties of the largest estates. It brings great tannic richness and also this acidity which gives so much spirit and elegance to great wines. Today, Belle-Vue is undoubtedly one of the properties on the Left Bank where the Petit Verdot is most used, a return to 19th century practices, a period during which the Estate already enjoyed a fine reputation.

If the oldest vines date from 1907, it was nevertheless necessary to replant a large part of the vineyard. Today, the average age of the vines is 35 years.