Château Le Prieuré is a 12-hectare wine domaine located immediately alongside the medieval town. The vines grow on Saint-Emilion’s limestone plateau and on the south-facing clay-limestone slopes. It is a unique and exceptional location with panoramic views over the Dordogne valley. The property is a 5-minute walk from Porte Brunet, which is the eastern entrance to the town of Saint-Emilion. Several elements contribute to the site’s rich biodiversity: low stone walls, hedgerows, fruit trees, terraces, copses, etc.
Merlot90%
Cabernet Franc10%
The planting ratio is 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc and the vines are an average age of 33 years. We have carried out massal selection in our most recent plantings.
We seek to bring out the finest expression of our terroir in our wines and to acquire a more in-depth understanding of the balance between the vine, the soils and the environment, with each new vintage.
26Plots
Our ‘garden’ of vines is made up of 26 distinct plots. We also use an intra-plot approach and practices to adapt to each unit of terroir that responds differently to the weather conditions of each vintage.
The majority of our vineyards are located on the asteriated limestone plateau, but as soon as you move away from the plateau, the land becomes more rugged with fine-textured soils from Castillon limestone and clay. These plots enjoy a southern exposure, which is particularly conducive to the ripening of the grapes in these naturally cooler terroirs.
These 26 plots sit at an altitude of between 56 m and 100 m. The various orientations and exposures form a patchwork of plots with distinctive characteristics that will enrich our blends in their own manner with each vintage.
Environmentalchallenges
Our
practices
Our practices are based on differentiated agronomic itineraries: sowing cereals or legumes, adapted ploughing tools, burying the inter-row grass as necessary, mulching, pruning and thinning guidelines, organic manure, etc.
Ploughing
by horse
Certain terraces and part of the steeply sloping plots cannot be worked mechanically by tractor and are only accessible by horse. In addition to the practical advantages, the introduction of the horse for our ploughing work in 2015 is a symbol of our commitment to putting man and animal back in the heart of the vineyards.
Commitment to the environment
We are committed to a virtuous wine making approach that is part of the broader framework of HVE 3 (High Environmental Value Level 3) and ISO 14 001 certifications within the framework of the Environmental Management System for Bordeaux wines (SME).
They support our work to continuously reduce our impact on the environment and improve the well-being of our employees. Reducing energy consumption, systematically sorting and recycling waste, prioritising the safety and quality of life of our employees, our neighbours and our consumers are now all part of our daily practices.
In the
Cellars
Our vinification practices aim to respect the raw material as much as possible. We harvest using small tippers to ensure that the grapes arrive in the cellars in perfect condition. The fruit is sorted in the vineyard if necessary and again upon its arrival in the vat house, before destemming. We vinify in small, temperature-controlled stainless-steel vats.
Extraction is carried out through gentle microbubbling operations. We pay close attention to the balance between aromatic complexity and tannic structure. This same quest for balance continues during the ageing process using new oak barrels with a moderate toast. The wines are barrel-aged for 16 to 18 months.