Château Montlabert

The estate

Montlabert was a noble house before it was a wine estate: the Maison Noble de Montlabert of the 18th century, known by its present name since 1750, and held for close to 100 years by the Decazes family, one of the oldest of Libourne. The house is a chartreuse of the 18th century with a neoclassical stone front, reached by an alley of holm oaks through the vines, and it stands in an English park with a French garden, an orangery and a magnolia 200 years old. The wine had a place in the trade long before any classification. Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, put Monlabert, then under Wacrenier, among the Saint-Émilions that sold at about the price of the 2es crus in 1868, in the company of La Dominique, Figeac, Corbin and Ripeau, and by 1908 it was making 30 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels).

The Castel family bought the estate in 2008. Ludovic Hérault has managed it since 2009, with Hubert de Boüard advising on the wine, and the work has gone down to the foundations: the cellar was rebuilt in 2019 by the architect Olivier Chadebost, with 16 truncated vats of 60 hectoliters made to measure and 2 barrel rooms, 1 for even vintages and 1 for odd, over an underground cellar that holds 15 degrees on its own. The list approved in September 2022 made Montlabert a Grand Cru Classé for the first time.

The vineyard at Montlabert is 12.5 hectares of sandy soils over layers of blue clay, planted 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc, with vines 30 years old on average; 9 hectares of it go into the grand vin (the estate’s first wine). 8 hectares more at Saint-Christophe-des-Bardes, bought in 2017, make the second wine, La Croix de Montlabert, for 21 hectares in all. The estate has held Terra Vitis certification since 2011 and sows barley, faba bean, marigold and mustard between the rows. The wine spends 18 months in the cellar, 14 of them in barrels from 5 coopers, in 2 toasts and 10 styles.

At a glance

Appellation

Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

Commune

Saint-Émilion, on the road to Libourne; 8 hectares at Saint-Christophe-des-Bardes

Classification

Grand Cru Classé in 2022, for the first time

Owner

The Castel family, since 2008

Direction

Ludovic Hérault, since 2009

Consultant

Hubert de Boüard

Vineyard

12.5 hectares at Montlabert, 9 of them for the grand vin; 8 hectares at Saint-Christophe-des-Bardes for the second wine; 21 hectares in all

Ground

Sandy soils over layers of blue clay

Grapes

Merlot 80%, Cabernet Franc 20%; vines 30 years old on average

Farming

Terra Vitis since 2011; barley, faba bean, marigold and mustard between the rows

Cellar

Rebuilt in 2019; 16 truncated vats of 60 hectoliters; 18 months, 14 of them in barrels from 5 coopers

Wines

Château Montlabert; La Croix de Montlabert

The house

An 18th century chartreuse at the end of an alley of holm oaks, in an English park

In history

Selling at about the price of the 2es crus in 1868; 30 tonneaux in 1908

Sources: Château Montlabert, the château · Château Montlabert, the vineyard · Château Montlabert, the cellar · Château Montlabert, the wines · Association des Grands Crus Classés de Saint-Émilion, Château Montlabert · Institut National de l’Origine et de la Qualité, the Saint-Émilion classification of 2022