Château de Camensac

The château

Camensac appears on the old maps of Cassini and Belleyme as a house and vines surrounded by marshland. Joseph Popp, of Hamburg, bought it at auction after the Revolution, when the seigneurie of Beychevelle was broken up, and his descendant Bruno Popp enlarged the winery in 1860 and brought in a mobile press that the rest of the Médoc copied. The Comte Lahens and Alphonse de Tournade held it later, and the Cuvelier brothers from 1912. When Élysée and Henri Forner bought it in 1964 the vineyard was in poor condition, and they rebuilt it with Émile Peynaud as their adviser. Jean Merlaut and Céline Villars-Foubet bought the estate in 2005; Jean-Pierre Foubet is the managing director, and Éric Boissenot consults.

Of the 150 hectares, 75 are vines in 123 parcels, and 75 are woods and meadows where ewes and lambs graze. The vines lie on the gravel rises of Saint-Laurent-Médoc at the boundary of Saint-Julien, along the Saint-Julien road: 40 hectares of gravel, 25 of sandy clay and 10 of sandy gravel, the deep river gravels of the Villafranchian and the Günz. The planting is 55% Cabernet Sauvignon and 45% Merlot, and in 2021 the estate reached level 3 of Haute Valeur Environnementale (High Environmental Value, the French state’s environmental certification for farms).

The grapes are picked by hand, sorted in the parcel and again on arrival, destemmed and crushed. Fermentation runs about 6 days at 28 degrees and the maceration about 3 weeks, with the malolactic in barrel, and the wine is raised 14 to 18 months in French oak, 60% of it new. La Closerie de Camensac, raised 12 months with 10% new oak, is the second wine.

At a glance

Appellation

Haut-Médoc

Commune

Saint-Laurent-Médoc, on the Saint-Julien road

Classification

Cinquième Cru Classé 1855

Owners

Jean Merlaut and Céline Villars-Foubet, since 2005; the Forner brothers from 1964

Direction

Jean-Pierre Foubet, managing director

Consultant

Éric Boissenot

Vineyard

75 hectares in 123 parcels, on a property of 150; the other 75 are woods and meadows grazed by sheep

Soil

40 hectares of gravel, 25 of sandy clay, 10 of sandy gravel; Villafranchian and Günz river gravels Terroir of Haut-Médoc →

Grapes

Cabernet Sauvignon 55%, Merlot 45%

Farming

Haute Valeur Environnementale, level 3, in 2021

Cellar

Picked by hand; about 6 days at 28 degrees, about 3 weeks of maceration, malolactic in barrel; 14 to 18 months in French oak, 60% new

Wines

Château de Camensac; La Closerie de Camensac, 12 months, 10% new oak