Château Bellegrave

The estate

Bellegrave is a small property in large company: its vines sit in the south of Pauillac among plots of the great classed growths, between Château Latour, Pichon-Longueville and Lynch-Bages. Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, list it from 1886 as a cru bourgeois supérieur of Armand Roux, at 50 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels). In 1901 the Roux heirs put it up for sale, and H. van der Voort, a trader in San Francisco who had been Armand Roux’s partner and sole heir, bought it. By 1922 it was making 50 to 60 tonneaux from old French vines of the finest varieties, a wine with buyers at several royal courts and in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Scandinavia.

Gabriel Meffre, a nurseryman, discovered the Médoc in 1954. In 1997 J.P. Meffre, already the owner of Château du Glana and Château Lalande in Saint-Julien, bought Bellegrave, and his sons Ludovic and Julien run it today. The 8.3 hectares of gravel, which drains well and gives back heat at night, are planted at 8,333 vines a hectare, 62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31% Merlot and 7% Cabernet Franc, 25 years old on average; recent vintages are Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot only. The grapes are picked by hand into small crates, soaked cool for 24 to 48 hours and left 3 weeks in vat, and the wine ages 12 months in French oak, 45% new, for about 22,000 bottles. The 2nd wine is Les Sieurs de Bellegrave. This is not Château Bellegrave at Valeyrac, in the Médoc appellation.

At a glance

Appellation

Pauillac

Commune

Pauillac

Classification

No classification

Owners

The Meffre family, since 1997

Direction

Ludovic and Julien Meffre

Vineyard

8.3 hectares; 8,333 vines a hectare, 25 years old on average

Ground

Gravel

Grapes

Cabernet Sauvignon 62%, Merlot 31%, Cabernet Franc 7%

Cellar

Picked by hand; 3 weeks in vat; 12 months in French oak, 45% new

Production

About 22,000 bottles

Wines

Château Bellegrave; Les Sieurs de Bellegrave

The house

Also Château du Glana and Château Lalande, Saint-Julien

Not to be confused with

Château Bellegrave, Valeyrac, Médoc

In history

A cru bourgeois supérieur of Armand Roux from 1886; H. van der Voort from 1901

Sources: Château Bellegrave, history · Château Bellegrave, terroir · Château Bellegrave, technical sheet · Château Bellegrave, the vintages · Château Bellegrave, the wines