Château la Jarre

In 2005, Dr Grégory Lovato, a young doctor then aged 29, decided to take over the running of Château Lajarre, which belonged to his grandparents, and to make it a name that counts in the Bordeaux Supérieur appellation.
He was thus able to combine his two passions, medicine and wine, and continue the family winemaking tradition that dates back to the 19th century.
His paternal great-grandparents, of Italian origin, were already running a wine estate in Veneto at the beginning of the 19th century, while other great-grandparents owned Clos Lassalle (a 1st cru classé of Saint-Émilion, since vanished) and vineyards in the Bergerac region.
In 1973, his grandfather, already owner of Château Canon Montségur in the Castillon Côtes de Bordeaux AOC, bought Château Lajarre, located on clay-limestone hillsides not far from Saint-Émilion.
The property, whose origins go back to the 18th century, belonged to the Duc de Lorge and then to Jean Gautier, mayor of Bordeaux, peer of France and finance minister under Louis-Philippe, who had a very beautiful castel built there.
The vineyard then acquired its true identity with the purchase of land and woodland and the replanting of all the existing vines.
The property now covers 40 ha in a single block, of which 33 ha are vines planted on two distinct soils: sand-gravel at the foot of the slope and clay-limestone on the hillsides.
With between 3,500 and 4,500 vines planted per ha, the grape varieties are representative of the Right Bank: 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc.
With the arrival of Grégory Lovato, the property took a new turn in 2005, and it is now Julien Belle, following Stéphane Toutoundji, who advises the estate.
Viticulture is based on the principles of sustainable farming.
The soils are worked with natural grass cover. Weeding is done only under the vine row. The vineyard is homogeneous in age (25 years).
Training favours double Guyot pruning with a minimum of buds, for a production target of 45 hl/ha.
This target is refined by disbudding and a green harvest if necessary. Leaf removal opens up the bunches to the air.
The harvest criterion gives pride of place to berry tasting. The harvest is mechanised, but berry sorting in the winery is systematic.