Château Bel Orme Tronquoy-de-Lalande

The château

Bel Orme was a known name by 1850, when Charles Cocks, whose Bordeaux, ses environs et ses vins was the first edition of what became the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, listed Belorme under Tronquoy at Saint-Seurin-de-Cadourne, at 50 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels). The widow Tronquoy de Lalande owned it into the 1880s and won a silver medal of merit at the Bordeaux exhibition of 1882; by 1893 it belonged to Gabriel Delor, who also bought Sociando-Mallet from the Simon heirs. The English edition of the guide, in 1899, found 36 hectares, 30 of them vines on gravel and palus, and a wine that kept: bottles of 1834 and 1847 were still excellent.

In 1936 Paul Quié offered his wife Lucienne the choice of 2 properties as a wedding present, and Bel Orme Tronquoy-de-Lalande became the family’s. The Quiés went on to buy Croizet-Bages in 1942 and Rauzan-Gassies in 1946. Jean-Michel Quié took over the management in 1968, and since 2000 Jean-Philippe Quié has been technical manager and Anne-Françoise Quié sales manager. The estate lies by the river in the Médoc marshes, a Natura 2000 site, and received the Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant label in the spring of 2024.

The vines stand on the hillsides of the village, on deep, sandy gravel with clay, planted 65% Merlot and 35% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35 years old on average and 6,500 to the hectare. The wine ferments in concrete vats at 26 to 28°C, goes through malolactic in barrel and in vat, and spends 12 to 14 months in French oak; about 36,000 bottles a year.

At a glance

Appellation

Haut-Médoc

Commune

Saint-Seurin-de-Cadourne

Classification

No classification

Owners

The Quié family, since 1936

Direction

Jean-Philippe Quié, technical manager, and Anne-Françoise Quié, sales manager, since 2000

Vineyard

Hillsides by the Médoc marshes; vines 35 years old on average; 6,500 vines a hectare

Soil

Deep, sandy gravel with clay Terroir of Haut-Médoc →

Grapes

Merlot 65%, Cabernet Sauvignon 35%

Cellar

Concrete vats; malolactic in barrel and vat; 12 to 14 months in French oak

Production

About 36,000 bottles

The house

Also Rauzan-Gassies and Croizet-Bages

In history

Belorme under Tronquoy, 50 tonneaux, in 1850; bottles of 1834 and 1847 still excellent in 1899