Chateau Belles-Graves 2019

All fruit is hand-harvested, sorted and 100% destemmed. Vinification takes place in thermo-regulated cement cuves over four to five weeks. Regular pumpovers or punchdowns depending on the plot and the vintage. The wine is raised in French oak barrels, 25% of which is new, for twelve to fifteen months.

88% Merlot, 12% Cabernet Franc. Relatively secluded, surrounded by its vines, in a place far from the worries of the outside world, Chateau Belles-Graves is a small glimpse of what one person's paradise might be like. Idyllic pastures, vineyards, and gardens decorate the landscape, and the focal point is a beautifully-tended labyrinth made of vines in the gardens of the chateau. Moreover, the property is rich with history: the vineyards here date to at least the 16th century, when they first appeared on a map of the region, and the building's edifice as we know it today dates back to the 18th century, before the French Revolution. Though the ownership has changed several times, the old Domaine du Drouilleau, as it was once known, finally settled in the hands of Jean and Hermine Theallet in 1938. Until his death in 1997, Jean's first cousin, the famed explorer Jacques Cousteau, would visit each year to taste the new vintage before resuming his travels out at sea. It is the Theallets' grandson, Xavier Piton, who runs the seventeen-hectare estate today and receives guests at the chateau's highly-recommended chambres d'hotes.