Château Roland La Garde

The château

The tertre de Roland, a mound a few steps from a bourgeois house reworked in the 19th century, watches over the vineyard. Olivier Martin put together the first 25 hectares; from 1990 his son Bruno set about changing how they were farmed, and Bruno’s son Guillaume joined him in 2015, the 8th generation. The Martins never used chemical weedkiller; they moved the whole vineyard to organic farming and have farmed it biodynamically since 2008. In 2002 Bruno Martin also bought Château Sainte-Luce Bellevue, 10 hectares above the Gironde at Blaye.

Roland La Garde now covers 32 hectares of clay and limestone, with veins of clayey silt and sandy clay, planted 60% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc and 15% Malbec; the vines are about 20 years old on average, and wild orchids grow among them. The Grand Vin (the estate’s first wine) comes from a selection of plots of vines 35 years old, cropped at 25 hectoliters a hectare, fermented with native yeasts, pumped over daily below 28°C and fined with plant protein, for 20,000 bottles. Prestige, the second wine, also makes 20,000, and both are certified organic and Demeter.

At a glance

Appellation

Blaye Côtes de Bordeaux

Commune

Saint-Seurin-de-Cursac

Classification

No classification

Owners

The Martin family; Bruno Martin from 1990, with his son Guillaume since 2015

Vineyard

32 hectares; vines about 20 years old on average

Soil

Clay and limestone, with clayey silt and sandy clay Terroir of Blaye Côtes de Bordeaux →

Grapes

Merlot 60%, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc 25%, Malbec 15%

Farming

Biodynamic since 2008; organic and Demeter

Cellar

Native yeasts; fermentation below 28°C; fined with plant protein

Production

Grand Vin 20,000 bottles; Prestige 20,000

Wines

Château Roland La Garde Grand Vin; Prestige; Tradition

The house

Also Château Sainte-Luce Bellevue, Blaye Côtes de Bordeaux