Château de Cappes

The château

Château de Cappes lies about 50 kilometers southeast of Bordeaux, near medieval Saint-Macaire on the right bank of the Garonne, and part of its vineyard once belonged to Château Malromé, the house linked to Toulouse-Lautrec. The Boulins trace it to 1880 and 5 generations. Patrick Boulin took over in 1983, and his son Cédric, trained at La Tour Blanche and in the King Valley in Australia, joined him in 2010. The 40.5 hectares, 35 of red and 5.5 of white, lie on steep south and southwest slopes at about 110 meters, mostly clay and limestone, sometimes mixed with gravel, with some vines in their 60s.

The whites, dry and sweet, carry the Côtes de Bordeaux-Saint-Macaire and are picked by hand in 3 passes: a dry white of 60% Sauvignon and 40% Sémillon aged on its lees, and a sweet Sémillon aged 12 months in oak, at no more than 18 hectoliters a hectare. Cuvée Mordorée, from botrytized Sémillon, is the only wine fermented in new French oak, where it stays 17 months. The reds are Bordeaux, among them La Plume du Peintre, and the barrel cellar, built in 2011, has a floor of earth covered with small pebbles.

At a glance

Appellation

Côtes de Bordeaux-Saint-Macaire, white; Bordeaux, red

Commune

Saint-André-du-Bois

Classification

No classification

Owners

The Boulin family; Patrick Boulin, since 1983, and Cédric Boulin, since 2010

Vineyard

40.5 hectares: 35 red, 5.5 white; about 110 meters

Soil

Clay and limestone, sometimes with gravel, on steep south and southwest slopes Terroir of Côtes de Bordeaux-Saint-Macaire →

Grapes

Dry white: Sauvignon 60%, Sémillon 40%; sweet white: Sémillon

Cellar

Whites picked by hand in 3 passes; sweet white 12 months in oak; Cuvée Mordorée 17 months in new French oak; barrel cellar of 2011

Wines

Château de Cappes Sec, Doux and Cuvée Mordorée; Bordeaux red; La Plume du Peintre