Château Lespault-Martillac

The château

Lespault-Martillac sits on a dome of deep gravel over slightly clayey soil, and its name has a long record. In 1853 William Franck, whose Traité sur les vins du Médoc first appeared in 1824, already had Lespeau at Martillac under Bentéjac, at 25 to 30 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels). The Bentéjacs kept it until at least 1908; the spelling became Lespaut in 1886, the crop reached 30 tonneaux in 1893, and 5 tonneaux of white joined it from 1901. By 1922 the Cru Lespaut had passed to de Rochette.

The Bolleau family owns it, and in 2009 it entrusted the estate to Domaine de Chevalier, whose Bernard family runs it; Louis de Bouglon is cellar master. Chemical weedkillers and fertilizers are banned: the soil is plowed and weeded mechanically, only organic compost goes on it, and pests are fought with predatory mites and pheromones. The vines average 40 years, planted at 6,600 a hectare. The harvest is by hand in several passes, sorted on tables before and after destemming, and each plot is vinified apart. The red ages about 14 months in barrel, 4 to 5 months of it on its lees; the white ferments 2 weeks and ages 10 months on its lees with stirring. The estate makes about 25,000 bottles of red and 3,000 of white.

At a glance

Appellation

Pessac-Léognan

Commune

Martillac

Classification

No classification

Owners

The Bolleau family

Operator

Domaine de Chevalier, the Bernard family, since 2009

Direction

Louis de Bouglon, cellar master

Vineyard

Vines 40 years old on average; 6,600 vines a hectare

Soil

A dome of deep gravel over slightly clayey soil Terroir of Pessac-Léognan →

Farming

No chemical weedkillers or fertilizers; organic compost; predatory mites and pheromones

Cellar

Picked by hand in several passes; plot by plot; red, about 14 months in barrel; white, 10 months on its lees

Production

25,000 bottles of red, 3,000 of white

In history

Lespeau under Bentéjac in 1853, at 25 to 30 tonneaux; the Cru Lespaut in 1922