Château Le Pape

Located in the commune of Léognan, Château Le Pape was created in the 18th century by Pierre Bobineau, a master sailmaker in Bordeaux. Plot by plot, he constituted a small vineyard with gravelly soil and built his residence there in 1805: Château Le Pape.

Château Le Pape later passed into the hands of a Spanish priest exiled from his native Catalonia. In 1841, he in turn sold the estate to Raymond Eugène Goëthals, an artist famous for his seascape and landscape paintings. Goëthals found the peace necessary for his artistic creation at Le Pape and his daughter Alexandrine was also inspired there to follow a musical career.

That has been Château Le Pape's credo since 1928, meaning “produce little but produce it well”. The red wine won the Grand Prix at the Universal Exhibition in Brussels at that time, followed by a gold medal in Paris in 1931. The wines of Château Le Pape interested major Bordeaux négociants who already owned vineyards in the Médoc and Saint-Émilion. The Theil, Legros, and Monjanel families thus succeeded one another as owners.

The heritage left by these great men, artists, and lovers of fine wine who did so much for Le Pape was transmitted in January 2012 to Robert G. Wilmers, the owner of nearby Château Haut-Bailly. He asked the team from this Graves great growth, led by Véronique Sanders, to make the wine at Château Le Pape. Their proven expertise in making classified growth wine is now applied to this fine terroir.

With 7 hectares of vines in a single block, Château Le Pape has a superb terroir in the heart of the Pessac-Léognan appellation. The average age of the vines (75% Merlot and 25% Cabernet Sauvignon) is 28 years. The terroir consists largely of gravel on sand and clay, and a soil survey done in 2012 showed the remarkable potential of each plot.

The current vine density is 6,900 vines per hectare. An ambitious programme involving uprooting, letting the land lie fallow, and replanting is under way in order to increase density and stimulate competition between vines.

Château Le Pape practises sustainable viticulture. Every season, workers plough the soil and perform all of the many traditional vineyard operations (trellising, removing side shoots, green harvesting, etc.). Pruning is of the utmost important for the vines' longevity.

The grapes are all hand-picked and each plot is harvested at optimum ripeness. Alcoholic fermentation takes place in temperature-controlled concrete vats at moderate temperatures.  The wine is aged for 12-15 months in oak barrels (30% new). Average annual production is about 40,000 bottles.

The 18th century manor house and gardens at Château Le Pape are currently being restored. Agence de l’Arsenal, in charge of renovating Château Haut-Bailly from 2000 to 2004, were asked to make the most of Château Le Pape's charming, elegant architecture and privileged location. Landscape artist Camille Muller is responsible for restoring the garden's original lustre and showcasing the château. Work should be finished by spring 2015.

Major restoration is being done by the Compagnons du Tour de France, whose stonemasons formed a series of tailor-made blocks corresponding exactly to the originals. Special care was taken in the layout drawing and bonding. Furthermore, cornice projections, pediments, pilasters, and mouldings were entirely restored and sculpted.