Château Bonalgue

The château

In the 18th century the land here was known as the Graves de Bonalgue, and notebooks kept during the French Revolution trace the life of the vineyard in those years. Under the First Empire Captain Rabion, a veteran of Napoleon’s Grande Armée, built the house in Saint-Émilion stone and decorated it with the arms of his regiment; the cedars of Lebanon in the garden are now 200 years old. The name reached the books in 1908, when Édouard Féret, in Saint-Émilion et ses vins, listed the Clos Bonalgue of G. Grenoilleau fils among the gravels and sands of Libourne, at 10 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels), and it was under the same owner in 1922. The parents of Olivier Bourotte bought the estate in 1926, and his marriage to Germaine Audy joined the Bourotte and Audy families. Bonalgue is now one of the 5 estates of Domaines Bourotte-Audy, with Clos du Clocher, Château Monregard La Croix, Château les Hauts Conseillants and Château du Courlat, and Pierre Bourotte SAS owns and runs it.

The gravel, river deposits of the Quaternary that drain well, lies on sand or on clay; the vineyard is 9.41 hectares of sandy gravel over deep gravel, planted 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc, the Cabernet Franc recently replanted from a massal selection. The family stopped using chemicals and pesticides in its vineyards several years ago, works with organic techniques, is starting on biodynamics and keeps bees. The grapes are picked by hand into small crates and sorted 2 times, and the wine ages in French oak barrels with little sulfur. The 2020 was picked from September 10 to 19 and aged 18 months in fine-grained French oak, half new and half of 1 wine. The estate has 3 guest rooms.

At a glance

Appellation

Pomerol

Classification

No classification

Owner

Pierre Bourotte SAS; the Bourotte family, since 1926

Vineyard

9.41 hectares

Soil

Sandy gravel over deep gravel, on sand or clay Terroir of Pomerol →

Grapes

Merlot 90%, Cabernet Franc 10%

Farming

No chemicals or pesticides; organic techniques; biodynamics beginning; bees

Cellar

Picked by hand into small crates; sorted 2 times; the 2020, 18 months in French oak, 50% new

The house

Built under the First Empire by Captain Rabion, a veteran of the Grande Armée; 3 guest rooms

The family estates

Domaines Bourotte-Audy: also Clos du Clocher, Château Monregard La Croix, Château les Hauts Conseillants and Château du Courlat

In history

The Clos Bonalgue of G. Grenoilleau fils, 10 tonneaux, in 1908