In 2017, Chanel added Ch. Berliquet to their suite of prestigious Bordeaux properties, becoming a member of close by Ch. Canon and Margaux’s Ch. Rauzan-Ségla. Our Bordeaux Purchaser Hector Howes stories on the evolution of the property underneath its new knowledgeable homeowners – and why it’s one to look at
We usually style Ch. Berliquet at Canon throughout en primeur, and with a tightly packed schedule there’s by no means sufficient time to go to each properties. This yr, nevertheless, an prolonged journey allowed us to go to as soon as many of the commerce had left the area. On the sunny Monday after the week of en primeur, we arrived at Canon as regular – however, as an alternative of disappearing right into a tasting room, hopped onto among the property’s iconic bikes (that are genuinely utilized by workers to journey between the 2 estates), and pedalled throughout the vineyards to Berliquet – a property that the Chanel staff has quietly been reworking.
Ch. Berliquet is without doubt one of the oldest estates in Saint-Emilion, with roots courting again to the 1760s. The primary identified proprietor was Jean de Sèze, a up to date of Jacques Kanon (the founding father of Ch. Canon). This single plot of vines on the slopes of Saint-Emilion’s limestone plateau has remained unchanged for over 150 years. Southwest of the city, nestled between Ch. Bélair-Monange and Ch. Angélus, it affords far more than meets the attention. The wines had been vinified by a neighborhood co-operative as lately because the late Seventies and the property solely achieved Grand Cru Classé standing in 1986. When Chanel acquired the property in July 2017, you’ll be forgiven for considering that fruit from Berliquet would go into its extra illustrious neighbour, Ch. Canon (which Chanel has owned since 1996); however that wasn’t what that they had in thoughts.
Within the tasting room at Ch. Berliquet
“At the start, we took our time with Berliquet. To begin with, we needed to concentrate on ourselves,” Axelle Araud, the property’s Wine Growth Director, instructed me at a current vertical tasting. The staff credit the property’s development partially to a greater understanding of their environment. Not lengthy after their acquisition, the staff carried out an in depth soil research which revealed that the property’s slopes are residence to all three of Saint-Emilion’s hallmark soils in equal measure: the winery’s plateau is product of limestone, the hillside a mixture of limestone and deep clays, whereas the banks of the Dordogne river are predominantly sand and clay. The distinctive variety of the soil helped to underline the property’s identification.
“Ch. Berliquet is the expression of a selected panorama,” Araud says. One key aspect of this panorama is a Mediterranean belt that runs throughout the property (discovered at Bélair-Monange too), with Mediterranean species of crops naturally rising right here – with cypress, fig, pine bushes, lavender and laurel all at residence. The staff has regarded to nurture this pure biodiversity, planting over 1,000 hedges, shrubs and bushes since 2017, in addition to putting in nesting containers for birds (to assist as pure pest management). The property is licensed natural as of the 2024 classic.
Wanting throughout the vines at Berliquet
Alongside this, Nicolas Audebert has embarked upon important restructuring of the vineyards. At the start of Chanel’s tenure, the winery was planted with as a lot as 80% Merlot; however, in early 2018, following their soil evaluation, the technical staff realised the numerous position that Cabernet Franc may play on the property’s clay-rich soils, on the slopes beneath the limestone plateau. Since then, the winery has regularly been restructured, with plots of Merlot changed with Cabernet Franc. At present, 2.5 hectares of the winery have been replanted, taking the proportion of Cabernet Franc as much as 40%. The objective in the long run is to deliver the mix as much as 50% Cabernet Franc.
In 2021, additionally they determined to plant some Malbec – 0.34-hectare plot of this grape that was – previous to phylloxera – extensively planted within the area. Nicolas Audebert and his staff imagine that addition of malbec will add to the variety of the fruit, the outcomes of this alteration will probably be evident from the 2024 classic, with its first inclusion within the mix.
Amphorae have develop into a defining character of Berliquet, used for the ageing of the wine
Whereas a lot of the work has been within the winery, a part of Berliquet’s current progress will be linked to the vineyard. Though Berliquet advantages from having the identical technical staff as that of Canon and Croix Canon, one of many thinks that marks Berliquet out from its stablemates is their use of amphorae. The property began with simply two amphorae in 2019, and at present have 12 – deemed a key a part of the wine’s character, with 10% of the mix matured in these clay vessels as an alternative of oak. Araud identified that the amphora have helped to protect the brightness of the fruit – carrying by way of their work within the winery to the ultimate wine.
The 2023 classic additionally noticed the inauguration of what Araud calls “the playground” – their new vat room, full with 22 chrome steel tanks. “Now that now we have all of the constructing blocks in place within the winery, we are able to pay extra consideration to each plot, leading to better precision and refinement within the last mix,” she explains.
The restored château at Berliquet
The 2024 classic is the eighth underneath staff Chanel and, over that point, the staff has repeatedly questioned their practices, making small changes within the winery and vineyard – making gradual however fixed development. And that development is clear within the wine at present, which has shaken off any rusticity it’d as soon as have displayed. As Jean-Basile Roland, Business Director for Chanel’s three estates, described to us again in April, they’ve been sharpening the wine’s silhouette – a wine that he describes as “telluric” versus Canon’s “ethereal” model. Nevertheless you describe it, the wine is clearly higher than ever earlier than and nicely value watching, with extra enhancements undoubtedly within the pipeline.
– Written by Hector Howes
