The wines

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Balance and elegance

The great wine of Château Bellegrave du Poujeau has created its identity through balance and elegance.

With finesse and precision the vibrancy of the fruit is immediately revealed, then a clarity of structure evolves to become well-rounded and cradled by the velvety texture of the tannins.

The winery is equipped with temperature-controlled stainless-steel tanks, and vinification is performed by parcel, to ensure precision blending.

Fermentation takes place over a period of ten days, punctuated by regular pump-overs, specific to each batch, promoting the passage of phenolic compounds into the wine.

Then comes the critical phase of maceration, whose goal is to continue the extraction. The wine is tasted daily to determine the optimal date for racking.

The blending process is carried out in close collaboration with our consultant oenologists, Antoine Médeville and Thomas Marquant, and follows numerous tastings.

The wine is then aged for around 12 months in French oak barrels, 30% of which are new. The aim of ageing is to better reveal and perfect the wine’s taste profile and aromatic complexity.

Château Bellegrave du Poujeau is ready to drink as soon as it is 3 years old, when it is first offered for sale. However, the wine’s vinification and ageing have been designed to enable it to be kept for at least 10 to 20 years, depending on the vintage.

Review by Jean-Marc Quarin

“Bellegrave du Poujeau. Four kilometers south of Ludon, in Pian-Médoc, I met the winemaker of this estate in April 2021. Its highly aromatic profile intrigued me. I wanted to learn more. Indeed, all the vintages I tasted—2020, 2019, 2018, 2016, 2015—shared beautiful aromas, but lacked body and sometimes had a touch of acidity. Only the 2016 stood out, achieving the best balance between the quality of the fruit and the aromas. At that time, the property was for sale. It found a buyer on June 9, 2022, eleven days before hail devastated the entire region! The estate is now owned by Mr. and Mrs. Pineau, in partnership with a couple of long-time friends, the Parés. Mr. Pineau, a Medoc native from Cussac, fell in love with this terroir surrounded by pine trees. A former industrialist specialized in waste treatment, and then wood molding, he is now as though in his dream garden, to which he has pledged full commitment. From what I understand, nothing obliges him to do so: not time, not logistics, hardly profitability. Such a situation may give rise to great things. For my part, I’ve just rediscovered in the 2021 and especially the 2020, after a long decanting, the same exciting aromatic qualities I noted in the 2016 ”

Chronique 351-352 (3/04/2023) by JM Quarin - www.quarin.com