Château Petit Faurie de Soutard

The château

Petit Faurie de Soutard was part of the great Soutard estate until a family partition set it apart in 1851; an inventory of 1837 already names the land. William Franck, whose Traité sur les vins du Médoc first appeared in 1824, lists Faurie under Laveau, called Breton, in 1853. Pierre Corbière bought it in 1890 and replanted the whole vineyard on grafted vines after the phylloxera, in Merlot, Malbec, Cabernet and the old Bouchet of Saint-Émilion, for 30 to 40 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels), and 50 by 1901. René Aberlen bought it in 1936, when it was still called Château Faurie de Soutard; the name became Petit Faurie de Soutard in 1969, and in 1978 Françoise Aberlen married Jacques Capdemourlin, whose family held it until 2017. That year the insurer AG2R La Mondiale, owner of Château Soutard, bought it, and the 2 halves of the old estate answered to one owner again, alongside Château Larmande and Château Grand Faurie La Rose.

The estate was a Grand Cru Classé in the first list of 1955. It was not on the list of 2006; the courts annulled that list, the revision of 2012 put Petit Faurie de Soutard back, and the list approved in September 2022 confirmed it. The vineyard begins on the limestone plateau and runs down the north slope, on clay and limestone with sand at the bottom, planted 77% Merlot, 18% Cabernet Franc and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon. Since 2017 it has been farmed by agroecology: 2 draft horses, Villa and Uranus, work the rows, 400 meters of hedges and 50 fruit trees have gone in, sensors read the microclimate, and old parcels pulled up since 2019 are replanted at 6,000 vines to the hectare. It has been certified Haute Valeur Environnementale (High Environmental Value, the French state’s environmental certification for farms), level 3, since 2021.

The grapes are picked by hand, sorted by density and go into stainless steel by gravity; the lots are blended early, and the wine is raised 14 to 18 months in French oak, new and of 1 wine. In 1922 Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, placed the château and its fine cellars on one of the highest points at the northeast gates of the town, next to Soutard, Cadet-Piola and Balestard-la-Tonnelle. Le Jardin, a restaurant under the chef Stéphane Casset, is on the property.

At a glance

Appellation

Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

Commune

Saint-Émilion, at the gates of the town, from the plateau down the north slope

Classification

Grand Cru Classé, 1955, 2012 and 2022; not on the annulled list of 2006

Owner

AG2R La Mondiale, since 2017, with Château Soutard

Vineyard

7 hectares; replanting at 6,000 vines to the hectare

Soil

Clay and limestone on the plateau and the north slope, sand at the bottom Terroir of Saint-Émilion →

Grapes

Merlot 77%, Cabernet Franc 18%, Cabernet Sauvignon 5%

Farming

Agroecology since 2017; 2 draft horses; 400 meters of hedges and 50 fruit trees; Haute Valeur Environnementale, level 3, since 2021

Cellar

Picked by hand; sorted by density; gravity; stainless steel; early blending; 14 to 18 months in French oak, new and of 1 wine

Wines

Château Petit Faurie de Soutard

In history

Cut from the Soutard estate in 1851; replanted on grafted vines after 1890; 50 tonneaux by 1901