Clos Lunelles

The estate

Gérard Perse bought Château Lapeyronie in 2001, and it now goes by the name of Clos Lunelles: the Castillon estate of a family whose Saint-Émilion holdings are Château Pavie, Château Pavie-Decesse and Château Bellevue-Mondotte. The label turned modern in 2010. The vineyard lies at Saint-Magne-de-Castillon, high on the plateau of Sainte-Colombe, where the limestone plateau of Saint-Émilion runs on, with Pavie a few kilometers away as the crow flies. The soil is clay and limestone, with a white clay that holds warmth and ripens the grapes early, on a slope that drains by itself.

It is planted 80% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. The leaves come off the east side of the vines in late June and the west side in mid-August. The grapes are picked and sorted by hand and ferment with their own yeasts in temperature-controlled cement vats, 5 weeks on the skins, with the malolactic in barrel. The wine then spends 18 to 24 months in new oak, racked every 3 months, and is blended just before bottling, without fining or filtering: 21,600 bottles a year.

At a glance

Appellation

Castillon Côtes de Bordeaux

Commune

Saint-Magne-de-Castillon

Classification

No classification

Owner

Vignobles Perse, since 2001

Ground

Clay and limestone, with white clay, on the plateau of Sainte-Colombe

Grapes

Merlot 80%, Cabernet Franc 10%, Cabernet Sauvignon 10%

Cellar

Cement vats, native yeasts; 18 to 24 months in new oak; no fining or filtering

Production

21,600 bottles a year

Wines

Clos Lunelles

The house

Also Château Pavie, Château Pavie-Decesse and Château Bellevue-Mondotte, Saint-Émilion

Sources: Vignobles Perse, Clos Lunelles · Vignobles Perse, Clos Lunelles, presentation · Vignobles Perse, Clos Lunelles, the terroir · Vignobles Perse, Clos Lunelles, the grape varieties · Vignobles Perse, Clos Lunelles, the cellars · Vignobles Perse, Clos Lunelles, the wine · Castillon Côtes de Bordeaux, Clos Lunelles