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 experiences on the evolution of the property beneath its new knowledgeable homeowners – and why it’s one to observe
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 12 months, nonetheless, 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 a few of 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 workforce has quietly been remodeling.
Ch. Berliquet is likely one of the oldest estates in Saint-Emilion, with roots relationship again to the 1760s. The primary recognized 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 gives far more than meets the attention. The wines have 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’d 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
“Initially, we took our time with Berliquet. To start out with, we needed to give attention to ourselves,” Axelle Araud, the property’s Wine Improvement Director, advised me at a latest vertical tasting. The workforce credit the property’s development partly to a greater understanding of their environment. Not lengthy after their acquisition, the workforce carried out an in depth soil examine 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 made from 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 id.
“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 vegetation naturally rising right here – with cypress, fig, pine bushes, lavender and laurel all at residence. The workforce has seemed 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.
Trying throughout the vines at Berliquet
Alongside this, Nicolas Audebert has embarked upon vital restructuring of the vineyards. Initially 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 workforce realised the numerous function that Cabernet Franc might play on the property’s clay-rich soils, on the slopes beneath the limestone plateau. Since then, the winery has steadily 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 purpose in the long run is to convey 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 – broadly planted within the area. Nicolas Audebert and his workforce consider that addition of malbec will add to the variety of the fruit, the outcomes of this variation will likely be evident from the 2024 classic, with its first inclusion within the mix.
Amphorae have change 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 latest progress might be linked to the vineyard. Though Berliquet advantages from having the identical technical workforce 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 as we speak 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 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 stainless-steel tanks. “Now that we’ve all of the constructing blocks in place within the winery, we will pay extra consideration to every plot, leading to higher precision and refinement within the ultimate mix,” she explains.
The restored château at Berliquet
The 2024 classic is the eighth beneath workforce Chanel and, over that point, the workforce 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 as we speak, 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” type. Nonetheless you describe it, the wine is clearly higher than ever earlier than and nicely price watching, with extra enhancements undoubtedly within the pipeline.
– Written by Hector Howes
