Paul Smith, our Financial Director, has been on a mission in Bordeaux to discover new wines, chateaux and wine makers. This is the second in a series of blogs about his trip and his discoveries.

Tasting at Chateau Turcaud

The UK, until a couple of decades or so ago, was a country without grapes. Push back a few centuries and this was a different story, we would have been used to seeing vineyards peppering the Southern Counties. Thanks to our weather vineyards are now a rarity but France is a different matter. Over there vineyards and wine making are a rural way of life and have been so for millennia, forming part of the French national consciousness. Which makes it easy to see why some Frenchmen get bitten by the wine bug and develop an overriding passion to own a vineyard of their own and make wine. During my trip to Bordeaux I came across a wine with a story that illustrates this rather well:

Chateau Turcaud

Chateau Turcaud

Turcaud is a chateau with 123 acres of vines at La Sauve Majeure, the village centred around the great ruined Benedictine Abbey that dominated the area long ago. It’s now a UNESCO World Heritage site. Chateau Turcaud sits about 18 miles distant from Bordeaux city and 12 miles from Saint Emilion.

Maurice and Simone Robert with their daughter Isabelle and her husband Stephane

It was bought in 1973 as a run down estate of 18 acres by Maurice Robert and his wife Simone. Both had grown up around the vineyards of the Charente Maritime which produces Cognac and Pineau des Charentes (a fortified wine). As a teenager Maurice spent much of his time with his cousins, wine makers near Cognac, and it was at this time that he caught the wine bug and wine quickly became his life’s passion.

Cellars at Turcaud

Having decided that he wanted to make wine his career Maurice spent 6 years developing 150 acres at Bégoin, a producer of both Pineau and Cognac at Jonzac.

At the age of 31, Maurice was given another opportunity to manage an estate, this time in Bordeaux: Chateau de Cadillac. His success in the venture brought the attention of André Lurton in 1970, who offered him the chance to manage the vineyards in the firm’s holdings. This was a budding wine maker’s dream – Vignobles André Lurton represents one of the largest wine dynasties in the world and currently has around 17 family members working in the wine trade, 3,200 acres of vines and 27 chateaux. Lurton chateaux include Brane Cantenac (Margaux), Desmirail (Margaux) and Climens (Barsac) amongst others.

Chateau Turcaud

Whilst working for Lurton, Maurice gained precious experience and it was during this time that he came across the old and neglected Chateau Turcaud. Less than 20% of the estate was planted to vines but he saw the potential, scraped together a bank loan and bought the chateau.

Chateau Turcaud’s Bordeaux Clairet

For 5 years, still working for Lurton, Maurice gradually replanted the vineyards, rebuilt the winery, and restored the old home. In 1978 Maurice left Lurton and over the next 30 years he bought more land and passionately concentrated on making his wines ever better.

His vision and passion paid off. Chateau Turcaud is a success story. Today the property is planted with 64 acres of white vines (including Sauvignon Gris) and 59 acres of red. In 2009 the couple’s daughter, Isabelle and her husband, Stéphane Le May, took over the running of Turcaud. They are determined to safeguard the soil and terroir they have inherited and have Maurice’s passion for wine making.

Chateau Turcaud

The chateau makes a range of wines that often receive awards and their white wine is sought after by French restauranteurs and sommeliers in the USA. They make a lovely Clairet and Bordeaux Rosé which caught my attention at the tasting. The whites produced are Cuvée Majeure Blanc (Bordeaux Blanc) and Chateau Turcaud (Entre Deux Mers) and the reds are Cuvée Majeure Rouge (Bordeaux Superieur) and Chateau Turcaud (Bordeaux).

Paul Smith, our Financial Director, has been on a mission in Bordeaux to discover new wines, chateaux and wine makers. This is the first in a series of blogs about his trip and his discoveries.

Bordeaux, for me, holds many an untapped gem and when I was given the opportunity to join a trade delegation heading out ‘into the field’ under the auspices of the CIVB (Bordeaux Wine Bureau) I leapt at the chance. My role normally keeps me at my desk dealing with – amongst other things – buying, selling and shipping Grand Cru Classé, so the CIVB’s kind offer enabled me to touch base with the bedrock of Bordeaux: small producers making fantastic wines that give good value for money.

Our group was made up of hoteliers and restauranteurs as well as independent wine merchants and their customers. Listening to the conversations within the group the prevailing message that I came away with was something that was music to my ears. Given the fact that most of the Grand Cru Classé have moved well beyond most Bordeaux wine enthusiasts reach, attention is shifting to discovering quality wines from lesser known wine makers and over looked appellations. This is exactly what our company Bordeaux-Undiscovered is all about.

Chateau Lauduc

The talk centred on tracking down small chateau that lie in the shadow of their ‘great’ neighbours; whose terroir is just as good, whose wine makers are talented individuals and whose owners have invested in modern wine making technology to up their game.

You’ll often find that these wine makers work in the more famous chateaux; or that their grapes – and even wines – once upon a time went into those of the more prestigious chateaux. Occasionally the wine maker turns out to be a distant relative of a great wine making dynasty with all the benefit of their experience but their chateau is located in an ‘unfashionable’ area. Or that the wine maker owns a once famous but now run down estate with stacks of potential that they are working hard on to unleash.

Vines at Chateau Lauduc

And sometimes you’ll find a wine made by a complete unknown who has an incredible gift and no means of publicising their chateau as no one has ever heard of it. In short, there are some wonderful wines just waiting to be found and you have to get out there, do the leg work, and bring them back home.

The CIVB arranges tours and tastings to promote all levels of Bordeaux wines and our Guide was none other than Alexander Hall who runs Vineyard Intelligence – which advises on the acquisition of vineyards in France. His knowledge is formidable and he is full of invaluable insights into the Bordelaise wine industry. Several chateaux had expressed an interest in meeting with us once they had been told a trade delegation was coming to their area and the first day revolved around White Wine.

White Wine – Chateau Lauduc

The one chateau that I must tell you about is Chateau Lauduc.

This is a small property that is one of the nearest producers to Bordeaux city centre, being only 6 miles distant in the village of Tresses. Tresses has nothing to do with flowing locks of hair – it takes its name from the old French “Tres Leu Cas”, meaning ‘3 Leagues From Bordeaux.’ It’s owned by the Grandeau family and I tasted their white wine with Helene from the chateau.

Range of wines produced at Ch Lauduc

Lauduc was founded in 1930 and the family built up their modest vineyard during the sixties to the 128 acres it is today. The vines are planted on limestone, clay and gravel south facing slopes. They make several award winning wines in white, red (including a Bordeaux Superieur), clairet and rosé. The wine maker is Francois Le Tonturier and the consulting oenologist is Emmanuel Villega (who also oversees wine making at Chateau Cheval Blanc).

Horses in the vines at Lauduc

The property is run by Hervé Grandeau and his brother Regis, 3rd generation wine makers. Hervé and Régis share the workload; Régis manages the vineyard and wine making, while Hervé puts the finishing touches to the blending and markets the wines.

They have a small negotiant business selling Bordeaux wines and Hervé is working hard to promote them – he became president of Quali-Bordeaux in 2008 (the independent organisation for quality control) and joined the CIVB in 2010 to work on the Bordeaux Tomorrow Plan that helps producers. The brothers also breed cattle and Breton cart horses on the estate, and Régis trains the horses to work in the vineyard.

Ch Lauduc’s Breton cart horse

Chateau Lauduc has undoubtedly benefitted from Hervé’s dynamic involvement in quality control, attention to wine making practices and activism, not to mention Régis’ care of the environment and ecology in the vineyard. Needless to say, I enjoyed their white wine and highly recommend it. It’s a brilliant example of a good quality wine hidden by the shadow of the big Bordeaux brands and it deserves it’s time in the spotlight.

Jane Anson, writing for Decanter.com, has reported that Domaine Clarence Dillon, owners of Chateau Haut Brion has bought Chateau L’Arrosée, a Grand Cru Classé estate in Saint Emilion. The purchase has been made through the Quintus SAS (Haut Brion bought Chateau Tertre Daugay a while back and renamed the estate Chateau Quintus). L’Arrosée neighbours Quintus as well as Fonplegade, Gaffeliere and Berliquet.

A spokesperson for Clarence Dillon confirmed the sale to Decanter, and said no decisions on the running of the property would be taken until September. This is third purchase for Haut Brion in recent times as as they purchased Domaine Allary Haut Brion last Winter. Unlike their two Saint Emilion estates Domaine Allary lies practically on Haut Brion’s doorstep. (You can read the story here).

L’Arrosée’s vineyards cover 9.5 hectares (23 acres) and unusually for Saint Emilion a large percentage of the grapes grown are Cabernet Sauvignon (20% Cabernet Franc, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, 60% Merlot). The estate takes its name from small underground springs which flow 10 metres below ground in the vineyards (arrosée means ‘watered’). It was sold by the Caille family who had owned the estate since 2002. The chateau is renowned for producing elegant wines which some have described as having an almost Burgundian quality. The Caille family invested in a brand new high tech winery, revitalising the chateau – which has since gained an excellent reputation.

L’Arrosée was first mentioned on the map in 1783 (lieu dit Larrosee) and by 1868 it was listed in Le Féret among the Saint Emilion Premiers Crus having won a gold medal at the Universal Exhibition in 1867. It was purchased in 1868 by Pierre Magne, Finance Minister to Napoleon III who also owned a number of properties including Chateau de Montaigne and Chateau Franc Mayne. On his death L’Arrosée was inherited by his daughter Mary who was married to the French Ambassador in Austria (and later in Bulgaria, Egypt and Spain). In her absence the estate was managed by the Dupuch family (owners of Domaine Bigaroux) who later purchased L’Arrosée in 1911.

In 1931 Georges Dupuch was involved in the creation of the Cooperative of Saint Emilion, to which he donated part of L’Arrosée’s vineyard located on sandy soils at the foot of the hill. After his death in 1938 his son in law, Pierre Rodhain, inherited the estate and in 1955 L’Arrosée was ranked as Grand Cru Classé – a position it has held ever since.

L’Arrosée was bought in 2002 by Roger Caille and is son Jean Philippe and that same year a few plots were detached and used to create Chateau L’Armont – I am not sure whether Haut Brion have purchased L’Armont as well or whether it remains in the hands of the Caille family. I suspect the latter.

Gilles Pauquet is currently consultant oenologist at L’Arrosée. To date, the Clarence Dillon estates use their own oenologists, director Jean-Philippe Delmas and technical director Jean-Philippe Masclef.