Château Le Châtelet

The estate

Le Châtelet is a vineyard inside the medieval village, on the plateau by the Collégiale and the monolithic church, and it took a gold medal at the Paris exhibition of 1867. In the old guides the name is scattered. Édouard Féret, in his survey of Libourne of 1897, lists a Châtelet under Hervé at 6 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels) among the second growths, and by 1922 Bordeaux et ses vins, the guide he made with Charles Cocks and the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, prints 4 Châtelets, a lieu-dit cut into small holdings. Its place in the classification has been uneven too: the list of 1996 struck Le Châtelet off, the revision of 2012 made it a Grand Cru Classé again, and the list of 2022 confirmed it.

Julien Berjal, the 5th generation of his family at the estate, grew up in the vines beside his grandfather and his father, trained in viticulture and oenology at the agricultural school of Montagne in 2001, and lives in Saint-Émilion in the middle of his vineyard, which he tends like a gardener. He sits on the technical commission of the Conseil des Vins de Saint-Émilion.

The 3.18 hectares lie on a thin layer of clay over the asteriated limestone, planted 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc at 6,600 and 8,000 vines to the hectare. The vines are pruned in double Guyot, the soil is worked and grassed, and buds, bunches and leaves are thinned by hand. The harvest is by hand and sorted on a vibrating table; the wine ferments gently in temperature-controlled concrete for 4 weeks and spends 12 to 18 months in French oak, in cellars cut out of the rock that hold 11.5 degrees and 95% humidity. Fewer than 15,000 bottles are made, all bottled at the château.

At a glance

Appellation

Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

Commune

Saint-Émilion, inside the village, on the plateau by the Collégiale

Classification

Grand Cru Classé, 2012 and 2022; out in 1996

Owner

Julien Berjal, the 5th generation of his family at the estate

Vineyard

3.18 hectares; 6,600 and 8,000 vines to the hectare

Ground

A thin layer of clay over asteriated limestone

Grapes

Merlot 80%, Cabernet Franc 20%

Farming

Double Guyot; worked and grassed soil; buds, bunches and leaves thinned by hand

Cellar

Picked by hand; vibrating table; concrete, 4 weeks; 12 to 18 months in French oak in rock cellars at 11.5 degrees

Production

Fewer than 15,000 bottles

Wines

Château Le Châtelet

Sources: Château Le Châtelet, the history of the château · Château Le Châtelet, the winegrower · Château Le Châtelet, the technical sheet of 2023 · Institut National de l’Origine et de la Qualité, the Saint-Émilion classification of 2022