Our exceptional soil has been devoted to viticulture since the Roman era, this being generalized since the 13C.
Being situated at 25 km from Saint-Emilion the vineyard of nearly 25 hectares all in one piece is located on the plateau and the slopes dominating the Dordogne at an altitude of 100 m, in the vicinity of the small town (ancient fortified town of the 13C ) of Sainte-Foy-la-Grande.
18 hectares of the soil is of the clay-limestone type
( predominating in the Saint-Emilion zone ) and the highest part of
7 hectares is of the clay-gravel type.
After two years of
observation it was decided to embark on a vast programme of
restructuring of the vineyard that started in 1993
and will be finished in 2006.
The first aim was to pull out the grape varieties that were badly adapted to the soil, that is to say Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet-Franc which only very seldom reach optimal maturity and cause undesirable tastes of green peppers…. And on the other hand the pulling out of the too large vines with weak planting density which often results in diluted wines…
Our 2004 vintage, was our last hectare of
Cabernet production and the entirety of the large vines will have
been pulled out (except for the one and a half hectare meant for the
vinification of Martet Clairet) and will be replaced by a low vine
having a density of 6000 stocks per hectare. It is obvious that we
have saved the low vine fragments of old Merlots dating from
1960-1965, in order to maintain a perfect balance between
young and old vines.