Château Boutisse

The château

Pierre de Belleyme, the king’s geographer, drew Boutisse on his map of Guyenne in 1783. In 1868 it was still shared by 2 small growers, the widow Faure and Laporte, at 6 to 10 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels) each. By 1897 J. Laporte was making 35 tonneaux on an estate of 20 hectares, on well exposed slopes between Château Laroque and Château Quentin, entirely replanted on grafted vines; Édouard Féret, coauthor of Bordeaux et ses vins, counted its wine among the best of the district; by 1908 the same 20 hectares made 90 tonneaux.

Xavier Milhade, the enologist of a family that has made wine in the Libournais since 1938, bought the estate in 1996. His son Marc Milhade has directed it since 2005 and lives on the property with his family, and Xavier’s daughter Élodie Richard-Milhade sells the wines. The list approved in September 2022 made Boutisse a Grand Cru Classé, its first place in the classification.

The 25 hectares run in one piece over red and brown clays on the limestone of the plateau, mostly Merlot with Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and a little Carmenère, a grape now rare in Bordeaux, kept here for its color and spice. The vines average 40 years. Haute Valeur Environnementale (High Environmental Value, the French state’s environmental certification for farms), level 3, came in 2018, the estate works to the ISO 14001 standard, and conversion to organic farming began in 2020. The harvest is by hand; part of the crop ferments in barrels of 500 liters, the cap punched down by hand or by rolling the barrel, the malolactic runs in new oak, and the wine spends 12 to 15 months in barrel, with amphorae since 2020. Stéphane Derenoncourt’s team advises. About 90,000 bottles are made, and Baron de Boutisse is the second wine.

At a glance

Appellation

Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

Commune

Saint-Christophe-des-Bardes, on the limestone plateau

Classification

Grand Cru Classé in 2022, its first classification

Owners

The Milhade family, since 1996

Direction

Marc Milhade, since 2005

Consultant

Derenoncourt Consultants

Vineyard

25 hectares in one piece; vines 40 years old on average

Soil

Red and brown clays over the limestone of the plateau Terroir of Saint-Émilion →

Grapes

Mostly Merlot, with Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Carmenère

Farming

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

Cellar

Picked by hand; part of the crop fermented in barrels of 500 liters; malolactic in new oak; 12 to 15 months in barrel; amphorae since 2020

Production

About 90,000 bottles

Wines

Château Boutisse; Baron de Boutisse

In history

20 hectares at 35 tonneaux in 1897 and at 90 in 1908