Château Prieuré de Beyzac

The estate

Prieuré de Beyzac came out of the division of Château Beyzac. Nadine and Éric Charlassier have held it since 1998: 13.76 hectares in 1 block on a clay and limestone rise of Vertheuil, which they replanted to 60% Merlot and 40% Cabernet Sauvignon. It is a Cru Bourgeois in the classifications of 2020 and 2025.

What sets it apart is the farming. The Charlassiers practice a regenerative viticulture built on Fukuoka’s idea and work with the agronomist Konrad Schreiber: grass across the whole vineyard, mown high, mechanical weeding under the row, cover crops in 1 row out of 2 and 400 meters of hedges of local species. The estate has been in Terra Vitis since 2011 and holds Haute Valeur Environnementale (High Environmental Value, the French state’s environmental certification for farms) at level 3. The Merlot, on the clay and sand sections, is pruned in Cordon de Royat, the Cabernet Sauvignon in double Guyot.

Picking usually begins in early October, by machine, and the grapes go over a sorting table in a cellar 200 meters from the vines. The wine is blended before it goes into 300-liter oak barrels, 25% of them new. From the 2020 vintage the couple added amphorae from Tava and Vin & Terre, and a 100% Merlot 2022 is aging in them.

At a glance

Appellation

Haut-Médoc

Commune

Vertheuil

Classification

Cru Bourgeois, 2020 and 2025

Owners

Nadine and Éric Charlassier, since 1998

Vineyard

13.76 hectares in 1 block

Ground

Clay and limestone; the Merlot on clay and sand

Grapes

Merlot 60%, Cabernet Sauvignon 40%

Farming

Terra Vitis, since 2011; Haute Valeur Environnementale, level 3; grass and hedges, advised by Konrad Schreiber

Cellar

Picked by machine; 300-liter oak barrels, 25% new; amphorae from 2020

Wines

Château Prieuré de Beyzac; a 100% Merlot 2022 in amphora

Sources: Château Prieuré de Beyzac · Château Prieuré de Beyzac, the vineyard and the cellar · Alliance des Crus Bourgeois du Médoc, Château Prieuré de Beyzac · Alliance des Crus Bourgeois du Médoc, the classification of 2025 · Alliance des Crus Bourgeois du Médoc, the classification of 2020