Château
Château Tour Saint Christophe
Terraces on the limestone slope of Saint-Christophe-des-Bardes, held up by about 1.5 kilometers of dry stone wall rebuilt by hand, and a Grand Cru Classé in 2022, 10 years after Peter Kwok bought it.
- Appellation
- Saint-Émilion Grand Cru
- Classification
- Grand Cru Classé (2022)
The estate
Tour Saint Christophe was a plain Saint-Émilion Grand Cru, in no classification before 2022. Peter Kwok bought it in 2012, the third of his Bordeaux properties after Haut-Brisson in 1997, and holds it through Vignobles K, which Jean-Christophe Meyrou directs. The vineyard was 6.5 hectares at the purchase; Château Tourans, bought in November 2015, added about 8 more. The list approved in September 2022 made it a Grand Cru Classé, 1 of the new names on a roll of 71.
The vineyard lies at Saint-Christophe-des-Bardes, east of the town, on red clay over asteriated limestone, looking between south and southwest over the Saint-Laurent valley. Part of it is planted on narrow terraces cut into the slope, and about 1.5 kilometers of dry stone wall was rebuilt by hand over 2 years, by the methods of the 18th century, to hold them up. The planting is 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc, denser on the newer parcels, up to 8,000 vines a hectare for the Cabernet Franc, and the winery works in concrete vats sized to individual parcels. Les Terrasses de Saint Christophe is the second wine, and since 2017 the estate has also made a white, Angela.
At a glance
- Appellation
- Saint-Émilion Grand Cru
- Commune
- Saint-Christophe-des-Bardes, east of Saint-Émilion
- Classification
- Grand Cru Classé in 2022, for the first time
- Owner
- Peter Kwok, since 2012, through Vignobles K
- Direction
- Jean-Christophe Meyrou, director of Vignobles K
- Vineyard
- 6.5 hectares at the purchase; about 8 more with Château Tourans, bought in November 2015
- Ground
- Red clay over asteriated limestone, facing between south and southwest
- Grapes
- Merlot 80%, Cabernet Franc 20%; up to 8,000 vines a hectare on the newer Cabernet Franc
- Cellar
- Concrete vats sized to individual parcels
- Wines
- Château Tour Saint Christophe; Les Terrasses de Saint Christophe; Angela, a white, since 2017
- The terraces
- About 1.5 kilometers of dry stone wall rebuilt by hand over 2 years
Sources: Conseil des Vins de Saint-Émilion, Château Tour Saint Christophe · Decanter, Peter Kwok expands his Saint-Émilion holdings · Conseil des Vins de Saint-Émilion, the classification of 2022, press kit
The record
Château Tour Saint Christophe is a Grand Cru Classé (2022), in the Saint-Émilion Grand Cru appellation.
Saint-Émilion Grand Cru is an appellation, not a rank. A wine may carry it and hold no place at all in the Saint-Émilion classification.
Source: INAO, Saint-Émilion grand cru
Cru Classé
By invitation only.
On from here
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