The vines
The vineyard
The Château Bellegrave du Poujeau vineyard extends over 3.93 ha in a single block on a beautiful gravelly hilltop of The Garonne.
Grape varieties: 50% Cabernet-Sauvignon, 40% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc. The majority of vines were planted in 1981.
The advantage of old vines is that they have a good command of environment and water regulation, both of which enhance the production of structured wines with beautiful aromatic complexity.
“The change in ownership in 2022 marked the beginning of new progress in viticulture!”
Our know-how
Working the soil beneath the vineyard rows:
- No weedkillers for 20 years, natural amendment.
- Slow and gentle mechanical work, thanks to the development of tools specially adapted to a small vineyard composed of vines of a respectable age and which must thus be preserved.
- Depending on the climate of the vintage, multiple green-harvesting techniques (de-budding, leaf thinning, green harvesting) are manually undertaken to maximize the quality and richness of the ripening grapes.
Protection of the vines against disease, primarily fungal, is highly controlled and based on biocontrol products (a set of plant-protection methods based on natural mechanisms), with rare exceptions in cases of highly unfavorable weather conditions. The vineyard environment is favorable to biodiversity: the vines are surrounded by forests, meadows and vegetable gardens; and we have recently planted fruit trees.
- Château Bellegrave du Poujeau is certified HVE V4.
- he vineyard is being renewed through replanting: the young plants are protected by non-woven, sheep-wool sleeves, which have the advantage of absorbing thermal gradients, of being fully biodegradable, and of deterring deer and other animals from eating the young shoots.
The harvest is both manual and mechanical, to optimize both sorting and the proper level of ripeness.
