Château Grand Barrail Lamarzelle Figeac

The château

The estate was put together in the 19th century from smallholdings detached from Château Figeac, and the cross on its labels since the 2012 vintage has 3 branches for the 3 that made it. Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, show 2 of the pieces side by side in 1893: the Clos La Marzelle-Grand-Barrail of Joseph Bertrand, 15 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels), detached in 1885 from the upper part of the Longa property, on a plateau facing Château Figeac where clay, gravel and iron-rich sand take turns; and the Château Figeac-La-Marzelle of the widow of Armand Cruchon, a first growth of Saint-Émilion on 15.5 hectares, whose crop had reached 54 tonneaux in 1875. The vineyard was replanted entirely after phylloxera, in 1895, and in 1903 the 18th-century manor house came down and the architect Louis-Marie Cordonnier built a château in its place. By 1922, under Mme René Bouchart, Lamarzelle Figeac stood among the first growths of the Graves of Saint-Émilion at 125 to 130 tonneaux, and a history of Saint-Émilion published in 1923 gives the full name, Château Grand Barrail Lamarzelle Figeac, at 150 tonneaux a year.

The Nérini family sold in 1937 to Maurice Alloo, a Belgian stockbroker; Georges Clément and Edmond Carrère came in the 1950s; the château itself was sold off at the end of the 1980s and became a luxury hotel. In 1997 the Parent family bought the estate and built a circular barrel hall for 400 barrels, first used for the 2000 vintage. Dourthe has run it since 2005, its first vintage here, with Bertrand Arpin as estate manager. It was a Grand Cru Classé in the first classification of Saint-Émilion and again in 1969 and 1986; today it carries the Saint-Émilion Grand Cru appellation and is not in the list of 2022. Château La Marzelle, a Grand Cru Classé, is a different estate.

The 15 hectares, 9.5 of Merlot and 5.5 of Cabernet Franc, are planted at 6,060 to 6,700 vines a hectare over Fronsadais molasse and green sandy clays. They are certified Terra Vitis and Haute Valeur Environnementale (High Environmental Value, the French state’s environmental certification for farms) at level 3, farmed without herbicide or chemical fertilizer and picked by hand. The lots are fermented apart, in temperature-controlled stainless steel and wooden vats, and the wine ages 12 to 14 months in barrel in the round hall; the estate makes about 76,000 bottles a year.

At a glance

Appellation

Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

Commune

Saint-Émilion, on the road to Libourne

Classification

Grand Cru Classé in the first classification and in 1969 and 1986; not in the list of 2022

Operator

Dourthe, since 2005

Direction

Bertrand Arpin, estate manager

Vineyard

15 hectares; 6,060 to 6,700 vines a hectare

Soil

Fronsadais molasse and green sandy clays Terroir of Saint-Émilion →

Grapes

9.5 hectares of Merlot, 5.5 of Cabernet Franc

Farming

Terra Vitis; Haute Valeur Environnementale, level 3; no herbicide; picked by hand

Cellar

Stainless steel and wooden vats; 12 to 14 months in barrel, in a round hall for 400 barrels

Production

About 76,000 bottles a year

Not to be confused with

Château La Marzelle, Grand Cru Classé

In history

2 growths beside Figeac in 1893; a first growth under Mme René Bouchart, 150 tonneaux, in 1923