Château Charmail

About sixty kilometres north of Bordeaux, Château Charmail lies in the heart of the Médoc, two kilometres from Saint-Estèphe. A rare privilege! The château enjoys both the village bell tower and a sweeping view over the Gironde estuary. “A sea of vines pours into the river; it is a striking sight”.
The 28.5 hectares of the Charmail vineyard enjoy an ideal convergence of conditions. The proximity of this enormous, temperate body of water, the river, gives it a very mild microclimate which, added to a pronounced relief and great diversity of soils, marks the strength of this fine terroir.
This remarkable situation explains the lasting establishment of the property.
The name it bears, Charmail, comes from a noble family of Breton origin that took a fief in the Médoc in the 16th century, the Trevey de Charmail. The renown of the brand itself dates back to the early 18th century.
The site benefits from a remarkable topography: the undulation of the vineyard plots combined with a southern exposure contributes to the ripeness of the grapes. In addition, the plots also enjoy a wind orientation favourable to the rapid drying of foliage and soils. The latter consist mainly of clay-gravel, sandy gravel and colluvium. It is from this diversity of soils that Charmail draws its balance (finesse and elegance from the gravel, strength and power from the clays) and its singularity.
The Charmail vineyard is in a single block.
The proximity of the river, which forms a slight bend and is nearly eight kilometres wide at this point, brings much mildness and shelters Charmail from severe frosts. It is not unusual to note a difference of several degrees, on autumn and spring mornings, between the Charmail plots and others situated a few hundred metres further inland.
“The best terroir is no different from the bad if it is not cultivated.” Vauban
The Charmail terroir gives coloured, powerful wines, built for laying down.
Of note, it expresses itself particularly well in sunny years, with a special mention for vintages with hot, dry months of September and October.
At Charmail, the vinification method is particular: the grapes are immediately cooled in order to prevent any possible start of fermentation.
This phase of cold pre-fermentation maceration makes it possible to extract preferentially the compounds from the grape skin rather than those from the pip, the anthocyanins and tannins from the skin having greater maturity than those of the pip.
The wines resulting from these macerations offer tight, round tannins that allow quicker consumption while guaranteeing keeping qualities at least equal to traditional vinification. Charmail was the first to practise cold skin maceration!
Ageing takes place in French oak barrels, a third of which are renewed each year, and lasts 12 months. The number of rackings is deliberately limited to 2 per year.
Bottling takes place at the estate in early spring, in a single operation, in order to guarantee the qualitative homogeneity of the bottles. For more than 15 years, the wines have been neither fined nor filtered, as these operations are often detrimental to the taste of the wine. This kind of decision is however never systematic and is taken only after several tastings, for each vintage.
All the bottles are dressed after a minimum resting period of a few weeks, which makes it possible to sort again for defective corks and thus ensure optimal presentation.
In 1982, Olivier Sèze took the destiny of the property in hand.
Visionary and demanding, within a few years he instilled a true style and made it a genuine brand, praised by the press and prized by enthusiasts. Vintage after vintage, for nearly 30 years, he vinified magnificently balanced wines with conviction and talent.
In 2008, Bernard D’Halluin, a northerner raised in Bordeaux, realised his dream.
Having searched for a property for some years, he fell head over heels for Charmail, which he bought from Olivier Sèze. The two passionate men now form a complementary duo at the service of the estate.
“I wish to continue with him the work begun by Olivier and his team. I listen, I taste, I learn!
We have new ambitions for Charmail: enlargement of the vineyard, new directions in viticulture, development of the buildings… Together, we are building Charmail!”