Château Bel-Air

Located in the heart of the Lussac-Saint-Émilion appellation, château Bel-Air has 30 hectares in a single block, of which 21 hectares are vines.
A family property for more than a century, it was bequeathed by the Baudou family to their nephew Gabriel Roi, then managed successively by Jean Roi, Suzanne Roi and, since 1978, by Jean-Noël Roi, with Antoine Roi since 2010.
The vineyard extends over a broad clay plateau with areas of siliceous gravel; the subsoil is made up of clay and iron residues.
The harvest is carried out only when the grapes are fully ripe: aromatic quality and the development of the tannins depend closely on it.
Macerations are long: it takes several weeks to obtain a wine suited to long ageing. Fermentation temperatures are strictly controlled by automatic temperature regulation. The most traditional methods are used for ageing: 200 barrels of oak merrain are renewed by a quarter every year. One guarantee: the whole harvest is bottled at the château 18 months after the harvest in a single homogeneous batch.
The wine is then deeply coloured, pleasant to drink in the first years for its fruity character, but reaches full maturity between 5 and 10 years or even more.
From the 1998 vintage, Jean-Noël Roi created a prestige cuvée. Made from very old vines and aged only in new barrels, it bears the name Cuvée Jean-Gabriel in homage to his father and grandfather and will be replaced from 2014 by château Bel-Air Roi on the advice of Derenoncourt Consultants.
In 2004 two new wines bear the name Bel-Air, from 6 hectares of vines in the commune of Petit Palais: La Rosée de château Bel-Air in the Bordeaux rosé A.O.C. and château Bel-Air in red Bordeaux.