Château La Confession

The estate

Jean-Philippe Janoueix bought La Confession in 2007, a single piece of 5.10 hectares at Haut-Pontet, at the edge of the slope, and set about learning its soils and how the vines behaved on them, so that the wine would taste more and more of its own place. It had never been classified when the list of September 2022 made it a Grand Cru Classé. The estate now has 7.5 hectares in all, on clay and limestone.

The vines are 71% Merlot, 27% Cabernet Franc and 2% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40 years old on average and planted at 6,666 to the hectare. Every other row is grassed, treatments are kept to what is needed, and the leaves are thinned on the sunrise side only. The grapes are sorted 2 times, in the vineyard and at the cellar, and go into the vats as whole berries for 25 to 30 days. The wine spends 6 months on its fine lees and is raised half in new barrels and half in barrels of 1 wine, from 5 coopers; about 1 barrel in 5 is a cigar barrel, long and narrow, a mark of the house. The 2018 vintage made 29,300 bottles.

At a glance

Appellation

Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

Commune

Saint-Émilion, at Haut-Pontet, at the edge of the slope

Classification

Grand Cru Classé in 2022, its first classification

Owner

Jean-Philippe Janoueix, since 2007

Vineyard

7.5 hectares, 5.10 of them classified; vines 40 years old on average; 6,666 vines a hectare

Ground

Clay and limestone

Grapes

Merlot 71%, Cabernet Franc 27%, Cabernet Sauvignon 2%

Farming

Reasoned treatments; grass in every other row

Cellar

Sorted 2 times; whole berries, 25 to 30 days; 6 months on the lees; 50% new barrels, 50% barrels of 1 wine; 1 barrel in 5 a cigar barrel

Production

29,300 bottles in 2018

Wines

Château La Confession

Sources: JPJ Domaines, Château La Confession · JPJ Domaines, the house · Château La Confession, the technical sheet of 2018 · Association des Grands Crus Classés de Saint-Émilion, Château La Confession · Institut National de l’Origine et de la Qualité, the Saint-Émilion classification of 2022