Château Balestard La Tonnelle

The château

The estate goes back to François Balestard, a canon of the village church in the 15th century, whose title the second wine, Chanoine de Balestard, still carries; La Tonnelle is the medieval stone watchtower that still stands among the vines. In 1850 Charles Cocks, whose Bordeaux, ses environs et ses vins was the first edition of what became the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, printed only Balestard, under P. Chaperon, at 10 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels). By 1874 it was Balestard-la-Tonnelle, under du Courrech de Raquine, at 18, and in 1893 the guide described 11 hectares on the hilltop and a gold medal from the Paris exhibition of 1867.

The Capdemourlin family, in Saint-Émilion since 1647, bought the estate in 1923, and the 12th and 13th generations run it now. In 1928 they put on the label a verse traditionally attributed to François Villon, in which the speaker will not mind dying if this wine is served in heaven: this divine nectar, which carries the name of Balestard. A history of Saint-Émilion published in 1923 printed the lines, found only a few years earlier by a lover of gastronomic poetry. Balestard La Tonnelle was a Grand Cru Classé in the first classification of 1955 and has kept the rank at every revision since: 1969, 1986, 1996, 2006, 2012 and 2022.

The vineyard is on the clay and limestone plateau at about 89 meters, the limestone full of fossil sea creatures, at 6,300 to 6,900 vines a hectare, vines over 30 years old on average, mostly Merlot with the 2 Cabernets. Half the crop ferments in cement and half in stainless steel for at least 3 weeks, the malolactic is done in barrel, and the wine spends 15 to 18 months in oak, half the barrels new. Haute Valeur Environnementale (High Environmental Value, the French state’s environmental certification for farms) at level 3 came in 2018, ISO 14001 in 2020, and the conversion to organic farming began in 2021.

The 1982, which I tasted in September 2025, showed what the estate does in a warm, generous Right Bank year: texture, ripe fruit and the balance that lets a wine age with grace rather than weight.

At a glance

Appellation

Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

Commune

Saint-Émilion, on the plateau at about 89 meters

Classification

Grand Cru Classé in every list, 1955 to 2022

Owners

The Capdemourlin family, since 1923

Vineyard

6,300 to 6,900 vines a hectare; vines over 30 years old on average

Soil

Clay and limestone, the limestone full of fossil sea creatures Terroir of Saint-Émilion →

Grapes

Mostly Merlot, with Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc

Farming

Haute Valeur Environnementale, level 3, since 2018; ISO 14001 since 2020; organic conversion begun in 2021

Cellar

Half in cement, half in stainless steel, at least 3 weeks; malolactic in barrel; 15 to 18 months in oak, half the barrels new

Wines

Château Balestard La Tonnelle; Chanoine de Balestard

The label

A verse traditionally attributed to François Villon, since 1928