Château Laplagnotte-Bellevue

The estate

La Plagnotte enters the trade books in 1868. Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, found Guimberteau at La Plagnotte, in Saint-Christophe-des-Bardes, in their edition of that year, making 6 to 10 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels); Féret gave him 8 in his Statistique of 1874, and the guide still did in 1886. The heirs of Guimberteau followed in 1893, then Borde, at 6 tonneaux among the artisan and peasant growths of the commune in 1897 and 1908, and in 1922 the widow Lacroix. The estate grew over those decades, and a last exchange of land, made in 1954 by the parents of the previous owners, brought it to its present 6.09 hectares.

Henry and Claude de Labarre, born Fourcaud Laussac, have owned it since March 3, 1990. She bought it while she was still co-owner and manager of Château Cheval Blanc, and Henry de Labarre carried out the renovation of the cellars. Their son joined the estate in 1996 after studying viticulture and oenology, and today he and his wife run it.

The farming is organic, and biodynamic since 2017, the first vintage certified by Demeter. Château Laplagnotte-Bellevue is 75% Merlot and 25% Cabernet Franc, from clayey sand with traces of iron pan, plowed and planted at 6,000 vines a hectare, with vines of 30 years. The grapes are picked by hand with strict sorting and fermented 20 to 25 days in small temperature-controlled concrete tanks, where the malolactic also runs; the wine then ages 1 year in barrel, 25% new from 3 coopers and the rest of 1 and 2 wines, and there are 30,000 bottles. A selection, Fourcaud Laussac, carries the family name: 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc from vines of 40 years, fermented 25 to 28 days in stainless steel, with its malolactic and then 18 months in new barrels; 2,000 bottles are made.

At a glance

Appellation

Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

Commune

Saint-Christophe-des-Bardes

Classification

No classification

Owners

Henry and Claude de Labarre, born Fourcaud Laussac, since March 3, 1990

Direction

Their son, at the estate since 1996, and his wife

Vineyard

6.09 hectares since 1954; 6,000 vines a hectare

Ground

Clayey sand with traces of iron pan

Grapes

Merlot 75%, Cabernet Franc 25%

Farming

Organic; biodynamic, certified by Demeter from the 2017 vintage

Cellar

Concrete tanks; 1 year in barrel, 25% new

Production

Château Laplagnotte-Bellevue, 30,000 bottles; Fourcaud Laussac, 2,000

Wines

Château Laplagnotte-Bellevue; Fourcaud Laussac, a selection

In history

Guimberteau at La Plagnotte from 1868, 8 tonneaux in 1874; Borde, 6 tonneaux, 1897 to 1908

Sources: Château Laplagnotte-Bellevue, the estate and the wines · Château Laplagnotte-Bellevue, the estate and the wines, in French · Les Vins de Saint-Émilion, Château Laplagnotte Bellevue