Château du Val d’Or

From the 18th to the early 20th century, the maternal ancestors of the present owner owned gabares (river barges) for river transport. These loaded barrels on board in order to deliver them to the Port de la Lune in Bordeaux, where the wines were transferred to ocean-going ships.
But the arrival of the railway in the region at the end of the 19th century disrupted river trade and wiped out the trade of bargeman. The family then turned to what would become its passion: vine growing. In fact one of the daughters married Henri-Gabriel Bardet, a wine broker by trade. Henri-Gabriel and Marthe-Marguerite thus created in Vignonet, on the banks of the Dordogne, the first vineyard of the Bardet family. In memory of the little village of Orval in Dordogne, where he was born, Henri Gabriel named this growth château Val d’Or.
Thus began a saga. With their only son, Roger, the Bardets acquired new land in the late 1960s. The Château Pontet-Fumet was thus born. Since then each generation has worked ceaselessly to advance the family business, and the story of the Bardet vineyards is only just beginning, since Philippe, Roger’s son, is today the happy father of four children.
Although the gabarre is no longer used for river transport, it has become the emblem of the family and the official logo of the Bardet vineyards. The sail turned towards the future is a nice nod to the constant innovations of Philippe Bardet, who seeks to go ever further in respecting and showcasing the terroirs of his various growths.
Deeply involved in sustainable development, a sincere and genuine desire to protect the environment naturally led Philippe Bardet to commit to collective action. As early as 1994, he became a member of the Board of the Conseil des Vins de Saint-Émilion and head of the technical commission in charge of terroir and sustainable development.
Ingenious, adventurous and surprising, he did not hesitate from then on to take risks and try new experiments: grass cover in the vines and development of hedges around the vines to recreate an ecosystem, drastic limitation of inputs of all kinds… Twenty years before the others, he tested and analysed.
These years of work and expertise in the environment also enabled him to create two new machines: the Tribaie and the Calibaie. The first sorts and cleans the berries, removing debris, leaves and berries that are not ripe enough. The second carries out a real selection. The smallest berries, with the highest sugar concentration, are separated from the larger berries. The small berries are used to make the estate’s first wines, while the second wines and rosé are made from the large berries. A permanent search for quality thus makes it possible, vintage after vintage, to reveal and fully express the typicity of the terroir: each bottle of château Val d’Or bears witness to it.
S.C.E.A. des Vignobles Bardet manages all the châteaux belonging to the family:
– in Saint-Émilion Grand Cru; at Saint-Laurent-des-Combes, Château Franc-Le-Maine and in the commune of Vignonet, Château du Val d’Or, Château Pontet Fumet and Château du Paradis,
– in Castillon Côtes de Bordeaux; at Gardegan-et-Tourtirac, Château Lideyre and Château Rocher Lideyre and finally Château Picoron at Sainte-Colombe.