Château Brulesécaille

The château

Brulesécaille was already a cru bourgeois of Tauriac when Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, listed Fleurimon and Brule-Secaille under Levraud in 1868, at 60 to 80 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels), with the chai at Bourg. Brule-Secaille stood alone among the crus bourgeois of Tauriac under Levraud through 1899, at about 70 tonneaux, and in 1922, under G. Lanneluc-Sanson, the guide described clay and limestone facing southwest, planted mainly with Cabernet Sauvignon, and a gravel enclave called La Benassite that gave the best white wines of the district. The Récapet family bought it in 1924 and in 1974 handed it to their daughter and son-in-law, Martine and Jacques Rodet. The family company is the GFA Rodet Récapet, and it also makes Château Yon St Christophe in Saint-Émilion.

The vineyard lies in a single block, within a square of 500 meters a side, on a clay and limestone rise with outcrops of gravel that looks over the Dordogne valley and drains well. Its 26 hectares in production are planted 59% Merlot, 27% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Cabernet Franc and 2% Malbec, with some very old vines of more than 75 years. The grapes are picked by hand, sorted in the vineyard and again by hand after destemming, lightly crushed and fermented under temperature control. Beside the red come a Sauvignon white, a Colombard white, Château La Gravière, Tauriacus and a red without added sulfur, and the family lets a gîte.

At a glance

Appellation

Côtes de Bourg

Commune

Tauriac

Classification

No classification

Owners

The Rodet family, GFA Rodet Récapet; the Récapet family since 1924

Vineyard

26 hectares in production, in a single block; some vines more than 75 years old

Soil

Clay and limestone with outcrops of gravel, above the Dordogne Terroir of Côtes de Bourg →

Grapes

Merlot 59%, Cabernet Sauvignon 27%, Cabernet Franc 12%, Malbec 2%

Cellar

Picked by hand; sorted in the vineyard and after destemming; temperature-controlled fermentation

Wines

Château Brulesécaille, red and white; Château La Gravière; Tauriacus

The house

Also Château Yon St Christophe, Saint-Émilion

In history

A cru bourgeois of Tauriac under Levraud from 1868; about 70 tonneaux through 1899