Clos la Madeleine

Clos La Madeleine, set between its prestigious neighbours Magdeleine, Belair and then Ausone, overlooks the south slope of Saint-Émilion.
The vines of Clos La Madeleine run alongside the little road that climbs towards Saint-Émilion, just before arriving at Magdeleine. They are wonderfully exposed to the south, bordered by a rocky ledge several metres high, in which quarries have been dug and which shelters the remains of troglodyte dwellings.
Above, on one of the edges of the plateau, an old dovecote topped by a statue of Saint Valery, surrounded by vines, protects this ensemble, one of the most spectacular in Saint-Émilion.
Clos La Madeleine belonged, with Châteaux Magnan La Gaffelière (Saint-Émilion Grand Cru) and la Tandonne (A.O.C. Saint-Émilion), to the Pistouley family, one of whose forebears was a cooper at La Gaffelière in the 18th century.
In 1992, a small group of people charmed by this marvellous site and the quality of the terroirs took over these three growths. Since then, over the years, deep transformations have been made, first so that Clos La Madeleine would best express this great terroir, and also to showcase this exceptional setting. The acquisition of two neighbouring estates (Vieux Rocher and Flouquet Madeleine) in 2000 made it possible to amplify these transformations.
Within the 2 hectares of the vineyard, a real work of precision is carried out every year, first in the vineyard, then in the six small temperature-controlled vats of the vat room created in 2001, and finally in the ageing barrels at the back of the quarry converted as an extension of the vat room in 2002. Since 2006, the estate has been advised by Hubert de Boüard.
In Saint-Émilion the south side is synonymous with elegance, which is what Clos La Madeleine expresses: concentration and power from a deliberately limited production, allowing breeding and finesse to reveal themselves little by little.