Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

Château Cheval Blanc

• Cabernet Franc at the heart of the blend: Cheval Blanc gives Cabernet Franc an unusually prominent place for the Right Bank, alongside Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. Clay, gravel and sand provide contrasting lots: the estate associates clay with supple, velvety tannins and gravel with aromatic finesse. Blending them brings breadth and perfume together.
• A legendary vintage: “Cheval Blanc” 1947 is celebrated for its richness and opulent texture, unusual for a Bordeaux: Stephen Brook explains in Decanter the attraction this vintage holds for tasters.
• Trees among the vines: At Cheval Blanc, Pierre-Olivier Clouet and the team plant fruit and forest trees even within the vine rows. Sheep graze the plots from October to March.
• A vineyard with several crops: The 2021 manifesto explains this return to orchards, vegetable gardens and beehives: the estate wants to diversify its crops and provide shelter and food for insects and birds.

Château Ausone

Bordeaux · Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

• Cabernet Franc above the limestone cellars: Ausone’s vineyard is planted mainly with Cabernet Franc and overlooks cellars cut into limestone, used for ageing since the eighteenth century. Young vines go into Chapelle d’Ausone; the grand vin carries the château’s name.
• Château Ausone: Power and round, precise fruit lead into a long sensation of freshness. The wine retains a fine, elegant touch.
• A name adopted in the sixteenth century: At the end of the sixteenth century, the estate took the name of Ausone, the Latin poet from Bordeaux who celebrated the vine. The tribute still accompanies its Saint-Émilion grand vin.

Château Figeac

Bordeaux · Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

• He came for one year: In 1947, agricultural engineer Thierry Manoncourt arrived at Figeac to help his parents for a year. He would devote his life to it, notably choosing the distinctive mix of grape varieties that shapes the château’s style.
• Saint-Émilion’s two Cabernets: Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc together occupy around two-thirds of the vineyard, alongside Merlot. Planted on three gravel rises, these three varieties form the signature of Figeac’s grand vin.
• The velvet of a mature wine: ‘Château-Figeac’ 1995: jammy black fruit, roasted coffee and truffle, with velvety tannins and freshness that balances the wine’s depth.

Château Pavie

Bordeaux · Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

• Saint-Émilion on three levels: Pavie extends from the limestone plateau to the sandier foot of the slope, via the south-facing clay-limestone hillside. These three terrains come together in the grand vin blend.
• The varieties follow the soils: Merlot dominates higher up, Cabernet Franc occupies the hillside and Cabernet Sauvignon sits lower down. ‘Château Pavie’ thus brings together several expressions of the same slope.
• A dense, fleshy red: ‘Château Pavie’ 2020: candied black fruit, crème de cassis and smoky notes. The palate is dense and fleshy, with tight tannins and freshness that balances the richness.