Château Fougas

The origin of the vineyard dates from the 17th century. Long ago Chateau Fougas belonged to the Priory of Bellegarde. A surveyor’s watercolour from this period shows the lands surrounding the Chateau belonging to one owner, as is the case today. A beautiful stone building in the gironde style was constructed in 1778.

Château Fougas was mentioned in the first edition of Feret’s publication as a “ Great Cru Bourgeois”.

It is a family property acquired in 1976 by Jean-Yves Béchet the son of a family of Bordeaux wine negociant and his wife Michèle. Together they have re-awakened the Terroir so that its qualities could be fully expressed in their wine.

Already certificated as a Biological producer, Château Fougas began to convert to Bio-Dynamic methods in 2010, by taking into account lunar cycles that influence the growth of vegetation and introducing the use of natural treatments in infinitesimal doses; these are the essential factors in obtaining the quintessential elements of the Terroir.

Chateau Fougas is today considered a beacon in its appellation  Côtes de Bourg and is a member of " Le Circle Rive Droite des Grands vins de Bordeaux".

The vineyard of 17 hectares is situated on the right bank of the Gironde, thirty kilometres from Bordeaux in a beautiful region known as the, « Petit Suisse Girondine » (“Little Switzerland “).

The proximity of the estuary bathes the vines in a soft and temperate climate.

Several studies of the soil have been carried out on the terroirs of the Côtes de Bourg.

The first, by the French Ministry of Industry and Research under the direction of Monsieur Mouline in 1963.The second was commanded by the ODG of the Côtes de Bourg that classified the soils of Chateau Fougas as calcosols originating from clayey limestone formed from silts and hard limestones.

A more detailed soil study was commanded by the château from Monsieur Phillippe Gard in 2003. Boreholes were sunk to a depth of 2.5 metres on a north/south grid, 150 metres apart. The conclusion of this investigation agreed with the results of the 1963 study carried out by the Ministry of Industry and Research.

Geologically the soil is formed from water-lain and Aeolian colluviums (deposits which have moved naturally down-slope). Iron rich blue and red clays have combined with beds of sand and gravel and overlie a sub-basement of the limestones of the Molasses de Fronsadais.

The topography is equally interesting as Fougas lies on a plateau of 28 metres in height, swept by winds that rapidly dry the grapes and their leaves after rainfall. This greatly helps to prevent the development of maladies.  Two small streams to the east and west drain the Terroir naturally

“For us, the wine we wish to make should be an expression of the Terroir. We search for as wide a range of flavours as possible; the violet rather than the tar, the refined more than concentrated…. We don’t blindly follow current trends but prefer to rest closer to the earth and attach importance to that which is authentic, refined, elegant, rich with beautiful aromas, spices and fruits….”

Chateau Fougas’s fixed objective is to produce an original wine, typical of and fundamentally representative of its Terroir.
For many years we have worked the soil and the natural grass using products that are exclusively organic in order to bare witness of our desire to work with land that is alive and healthy.

 Our conversion to a biological agricultural enterprise in 2007 represented an important supplementary stage with the abolishment of the use of all pesticides for photo-sanitary treatments.
- We take great care to produce healthy wine, without synthetic molecules that can cause grave damage to our health or that of our clients.: cancer, male sterility and neurotoxins.      

Since 2010, we have moved towards the adoption of biodynamic approaches. If this approach does not yet have a rational scientific explanation we are able to nevertheless observe its beneficial effects on the health of the vines and the quality of the wines that we produce.
- It is recognized that these approaches have a direct effect on the production of humus and microbiological life in the soil.

- The resulting wines have a marked advantage in their expression of the “Terroir” without as much dependence on annual climatic conditions; it appears that they are less subject to the effect of the “millésime”….

- Biodynamic approaches reduce the need for intervention in the growing of the vines; the vigneron has greater autonomy.

- Greater biodiversity is developed in the vineyard; an essential when wishing to bequeath healthy Land to those who are to follow.
One is able to compare biodynamic approaches in agriculture to homeopathy in medicine. Although not everything in these approaches is explicable over many years concrete results have been recorded by researchers notably from the INRA of Dijon and in the LCBE of the University of Perpignan. 

Through this new commitment we fell certain that we are able to produce an exceptional wine that conforms to our ethics.The wild strawberries have the advantage of taste over a strawberry forced in a greenhouse. The first may be smaller and less attractive to the eye but has grown naturally. It contains all the quintessential aromas the second cultivated for profit and appearance seems diluted and insipid.

It is exactly the same for the grape. To make an expressive wine it is necessary that one produces grapes with a good flavour.

 The biological philosophy used in the cultivation of the vines including using manure from biological sources continues during manual harvesting and the time that the wine spends in the vat.

To preserve the identity of each parcel, vinification takes place in its own tank and then  in the same batch of barrels until bottling. 
 
During the alcoholic fermentation, pigeage (gently mixing the juice and skins) is used for the maximum extraction of fruits and tannins.

- Malolactic fermentation takes place in oak barrels.
- Maturing occurs on the lees for 18 months to create a mellow wine.