Clos Fourtet

The estate

The name comes from the Camp Fortet, the small fort that held the rock above the town, and the clos still sits at its gates, beside the ruins called the Grande Muraille. Léon Rulleau planted the vineyard in the middle of the 18th century and his nephew Elie built the present château. Its standing is old. A list of Saint-Émilion drawn up in 1841, reprinted by Charles Cocks in 1850, already put Campfourtet and Champfourtet, both under Rulleau, in the first class of the Haut-Saint-Émilion, at 30 and 40 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels), and William Franck, whose Traité sur les vins du Médoc first appeared in 1824, counted Campfourtet in 1853 among the wines of the first marque.

The family renamed the property Clos Fourtet in 1868. That year Cocks and Féret’s Bordeaux et ses vins, the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, called it one of the best growths of the Saint-Émilionnais, bordering Bel-Air and Canon, and guessed from its position and its old name that the ground had been an army camp in the wars that laid Saint-Émilion waste. It had 18 hectares then, under Leperche, planted with Bouchet, Merlot and Noir de Pressac. The owners that followed are part of the Bordeaux trade’s story: Fernand Ginestet bought it in 1919, the Lurton family held it from 1949, and Philippe Cuvelier bought it in 2001; his son Matthieu runs it. Clos Fourtet has been a Premier Grand Cru Classé B since the first classification of 1955, and the list of September 2022 kept it among the 14 Premiers Grands Crus Classés. The Cuveliers also own Château Poujeaux in Moulis and in 2013 bought Les Grandes Murailles and Château Côte de Baleau and a share of Clos Saint-Martin.

The 19 hectares lie in 1 continuous plot on limestone in western Saint-Émilion, with the vines 25 years old on average: 83% Merlot, 9% Cabernet Franc and 8% Cabernet Sauvignon. Father and son farm organically and biodynamically. The grapes are picked and sorted by hand and fermented as whole berries in temperature-controlled tanks, and the wine spends 14 to 18 months in oak. The cellars are the old limestone quarries under the vineyard. Clos Fourtet runs to 2,500 to 4,000 cases, and La Closerie de Fourtet is the second wine.

At a glance

Appellation

Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

Commune

Saint-Émilion, at the gates of the town

Classification

Premier Grand Cru Classé B, 1955 to 2022

Owner

Philippe Cuvelier, since 2001

Direction

Matthieu Cuvelier

Vineyard

19 hectares in 1 continuous plot; vines 25 years old on average

Ground

Limestone, over the old quarries

Grapes

Merlot 83%, Cabernet Franc 9%, Cabernet Sauvignon 8%

Farming

Organic and biodynamic

Cellar

Picked and sorted by hand; whole berries; 14 to 18 months in oak; aged in the quarries

Production

2,500 to 4,000 cases of the first wine

Wines

Clos Fourtet; La Closerie de Fourtet

In history

In the first class of the Haut-Saint-Émilion in 1841, at 30 and 40 tonneaux

Took in

Château Les Grandes Murailles

Sources: Clos Fourtet, useful information · Clos Fourtet, a jewel of Saint-Émilion · Clos Fourtet, the family · Clos Fourtet, the expression of great terroir · Conseil des Vins de Saint-Émilion, Clos Fourtet · INAO, Saint-Émilion grand cru: the classification for the next decade