Château Belgrave

The 2014 vintage – Fréderic Bonnaffous

The year got off to an unseasonably wet and mild start, with average temperatures of 8.5°c recorded in January and February at our weather station in Château La Garde. This resulted in an early, good quality budburst in the first Merlots at Château Reysson and the Cabernet Sauvignon at Château Pey La Tour in the third week of March.

Thankfully, the smooth start continued in frost-free conditions, and with a summery feel to April, rainfall and temperatures remained in line with seasonal averages, even if May seemed wetter. Vine growth began in great conditions across every region.

Flowering commenced during the last 10 days of May, with the first flowers detected at Château La Garde on May 22nd. These wet conditions, which were significant in places, were rapidly offset by hot, sunny weather in June, which accelerated and evened up flowering. Everything was looking very positive at the end of June, with growth almost 3 weeks ahead of schedule, and the vineyards generally looking healthy.

It was a relatively rainy, cool summer, which on the whole affected principally the red grapes; veraison and the start of ripening were dangerously delayed, while the return of wet weather promoted continued vine growth and the aggressive onset of mildew.

We focused on keeping disease pressure and vine growth at bay through punish ing work in the vineyards throughout August. Nerves were unsurprisingly on edge in the vineyard, and we had lost the remarkable head start enjoyed in spring. Worryingly, on August 27th we even noted a delay in ripening.

Originally a highly reputed hunting pavilion during the reign of Louis XV, the expansion of the vineyards was particularly influenced by the Coutanceau family, whose name was first adopted for the estate’s wines during the classification of Bordeaux wines carried out by Guillaume Lawton in 1815. The “Bellegrave” designation first appeared in 1845, when Bruno Devès, a negociant in Bordeaux, remodelled the estate, favouring vine growing on the finest gravel terroirs. He built residences, tank rooms and wineries, and constructed the existing residence on the site of the original hunting pavilion. The wine was classified as a 5th growth in 1855, still bearing the name of Coutanceau, whilst the “Belgrave” name was only to be attributed at the beginning of the 20th century by Marcel Alibert, founder of the Syndicate of Crus Classés, and owner of the estate for almost 30 years. The link between the wine and hunting explains the ferret that features on the packaging, and also the name “Diane de Belgrave” given to its second wine.

Situated at the extremities of the St-Julien appellation, separated from its neighbour Château Lagrange by only a stream, Château Belgrave is one of the oldest Cru vineyards in the Médoc. In 1855 it was classified as a 5th growth because of the exceptional quality of its deep gravel soils. The soils at Château Belgrave show remarkable diversity. Two hillocks made up of gravel and pebbles deposited thousands of years ago by the Garonne river, overlying a bed of clay, rise to 23 and 26 metres. This type of soil is favourable to late-ripening grape varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and also Petit-Verdot, which now covers 3% of the surface area following remodelling of the vineyard. The gravel thins towards the foot of the hillocks, where the soil is a combination of gravel and sand offering good drainage, and clay outcrops, which are particularly adapted to the cultivation of Merlot.

A significant amount of work is carried out in the vineyard to ensure optimum quality of the grapes. Increasing the planting density per hectare to 10,000 hectares across 75% of the vineyard and increasing the canopy area moderates yields and improves the concentration of the grapes. Studies initially carried out at Château Belgrave to analyse the correlation between vine growth and the profile of the sub-soil and water supplies, have led to a highly detailed mapping of the vineyard that identifies rows or parts of rows within each parcel of vines that ripen at the same rate. The cultivation regime combined with sustainable plant protection throughout the growing cycle is then tailored to the mapping, including pruning methods, bud stripping, suckering, leaf plucking and cover planting. In this way, a perfect understanding of the vineyard and terroir will create perfectly healthy grapes of consistent ripeness, picked using selective harvesting and forming highly consistent cuves.

Since 1982, Château Belgrave has been equipped with ageing and vinification tools capable of the most gentle winemaking methods. In 2004, the tank room was entirely remodelled, with the focus on respecting the character and diversity of the parcels, resulting from selective harvesting. This includes installing 37 tanks of varying sizes and composed of stainless steel and oak, of which 14 equipped with an integrated pigeage system. In 2012, three small volume, truncated, stainless steel tanks were introduced to fine-tune this selective harvesting. In 2007, updating the partly underground barrel hall to an ultra modern specification, continued a 15-year cycle of renovating the vineyard and winery facilities at Château Belgrave. In 2010, the large reception area was renovated, with its well-lit, understated style providing visitors with optimum tasting conditions.