Château Rocheyron

The estate

Silvio Denz, of Lalique, and Peter Sisseck, the Dane who built Domínio de Pingus in Ribera del Duero, bought Rocheyron in 2010 and made their first vintage that same year. Sisseck is no visiting consultant here: he owns half the estate and he makes the wine.

The vineyard sits on the plateau of Saint-Christophe-des-Bardes, on calcosols over the starfish limestone of the lower Oligocene. The vines average 45 years and stand at 6,600 to the hectare, 70% Merlot and 30% Cabernet Franc; the Cabernet Franc was probably planted in the 1930s. Yields run at about 30 hectoliters a hectare, for around 15,000 bottles a year.

The farming has been biodynamic since 2014; the formal conversion began in 2017, the estate joined Biodyvin in 2019, and the wine has been certified organic from the 2020 vintage, with the top level of Haute Valeur Environnementale (High Environmental Value, the French state’s environmental certification for farms) besides. The soil is worked by horse, the pruning is double Guyot, the disbudding and the crop thinning are done by hand, and the fruit is picked into small crates and sorted optically. Fermentation is slow and cool in temperature-controlled concrete vats, with about 3 weeks of maceration, and the wine is raised in French oak, 40% of it new. In 2013 there was no Château Rocheyron at all: the whole crop went into the second wine, La Fleur de Rocheyron.

At a glance

Appellation

Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

Classification

No classification

Owners

Silvio Denz and Peter Sisseck, since 2010

Oenologist

Peter Sisseck, of Domínio de Pingus, co-owner

Vineyard

The plateau of Saint-Christophe-des-Bardes; vines about 45 years old; 6,600 vines a hectare

Ground

Calcosols over the starfish limestone of the lower Oligocene

Grapes

Merlot 70%, Cabernet Franc 30%

Farming

Biodynamic since 2014, Biodyvin since 2019; certified organic from the 2020 vintage; Haute Valeur Environnementale, level 3; the soil worked by horse

Cellar

Temperature-controlled concrete vats; about 3 weeks of maceration; French oak, 40% new

Production

About 30 hectoliters a hectare; around 15,000 bottles

Wines

Château Rocheyron; La Fleur de Rocheyron, which took the whole crop in 2013

Sources: Vignobles Silvio Denz, Château Rocheyron · Vignobles Silvio Denz, Château Rocheyron, technical sheet · Decanter, Château Rocheyron