Château Croix de Bertinat

The Cassini map drawn up in 1756 already mentions, at Saint Sulpice de Faleyrens, an estate named Bertinat on the present site of the estate’s manor house. In the mid-19th century, following the division of an inheritance, it was separated from its vines and the plots were divided. The Bertinat growth nevertheless reappeared as early as 1873 in our third edition and was then regularly listed. In 1898 it held a good place among the crus Bourgeois of the commune.
From 1960, the vineyard was gradually taken over and restructured by Christian Lafaye and took the name of the mission cross erected in 1872 in front of the estate and known as the Croix de Bertinat.
In 2012, Anne-Marie and Patrick Saunier acquired the vineyard and the old manor house, thus reconstituting the Bertinat estate as it existed a century and a half earlier.
The choice of Château Croix de Bertinat results from the conjunction of several factors:
– a terroir of great quality,
– a well-kept estate of artisanal size, from vineyard to cellar,
a meeting with the key men of this estate ; Alain Lafaye, former owner, and Thomas Duclos, consultant oenologist, with whom they chose to continue the adventure.
Keen to respect the traditions of the Saint-Émilion vineyard and the work accomplished by those who preceded them, they are gradually bringing high-performing equipment and infrastructure to Château Croix de Bertinat, which will further improve the quality of the wines.
With this in mind, Anne-Marie and Patrick Saunier decided in early 2013 to undertake a complete restructuring of their cellars : a new vat room, a new barrel cellar, a tasting room, all brought together in a new building. No one can doubt that the coming harvests and future vinifications will allow them to obtain the quintessence of the terroir.
The quality of the warm gravel soils already allows them to bring the Cabernets, and notably the Cabernet Francs, to optimal ripeness. They play a primary role in the blends, to which they bring all their aromatic finesse and the signature of the growth.