Château Lamothe-Vincent

The château

The story starts small. In 1873 Jean Coiffard, a coachman, bought the first vines at Montignac; in 1892 Marie Coiffard married Jacques Vincent, a quarryman, and the same year Gustave Cousin, a grower, acquired 16 hectares at Saint-Félix-de-Foncaude and Castelviel. The 2 lines met in 1969, when Josette Cousin married Bernard Vincent, mayor of the village, and joined the 2 vineyards. In 1988 the wines, sold until then as Château Lamothe and Domaine La Merline, took the name Lamothe-Vincent, after Saint Vincent, patron of winegrowers, and La Motte, the name of the first vineyard. Christophe Vincent, who arrived in 1990, runs the vineyard; Fabien, back in 1999, makes the wine with the consultant Edouard Massie; and Alexandra Vincent has run sales and visits since 2012.

The 102 hectares, 88 of red and 14 of white in 26 plots, lie at 2 ends of the Entre-deux-Mers, and Xavier Choné has mapped their soils at 1:2,500: clay and clay-limestone on the molasses of the Agenais, clay-limestone on a limestone slab full of fossil starfish, and swelling clays and marls. The reds are 66% Merlot, 22% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Cabernet Franc, 4% Malbec and 2% Petit Verdot, the whites 80% Sauvignon Blanc, 13% Sémillon and 7% Sauvignon Gris, planted at 4,000 to 4,500 vines a hectare and 27 years old on average. The estate has held Haute Valeur Environnementale (High Environmental Value, the French state’s environmental certification for farms) since 2013 and has drawn 50% of its electricity from solar panels since 2010.

The cellar was built for the 2000 vintage and enlarged in 2016, and holds 48 stainless steel and 24 concrete vats. The scale shows in the Réserve, a red Bordeaux: in 2020 it was 80% Merlot, 12% Cabernet Franc and 8% Cabernet Sauvignon, from 30 hectares, and made 210,000 bottles.

At a glance

Appellation

Bordeaux

Commune

Montignac

Classification

No classification

Owners

The Vincent family; Christophe and Fabien Vincent

Consultant

Edouard Massie

Vineyard

102 hectares: 88 red, 14 white, in 26 plots

Soil

Clay and clay-limestone on Agenais molasses; limestone with fossil starfish; swelling clays and marls Terroir of Bordeaux AOC →

Grapes

Red: Merlot 66%, Cabernet Sauvignon 22%, Cabernet Franc 6%, Malbec 4%, Petit Verdot 2%. White: Sauvignon Blanc 80%, Sémillon 13%, Sauvignon Gris 7%

Farming

Haute Valeur Environnementale, since 2013

Cellar

Built in 2000, enlarged in 2016; 48 stainless steel and 24 concrete vats

Production

The Réserve 2020: 210,000 bottles

Wines

Château Lamothe-Vincent Réserve and Héritage; Intense; Libertae; Le Grand Rossignol