Château Le Castelot

A well-born Saint-Émilion and a château full of stories. The historian André Castelot writes: “in my family, which owned this growth, it is told that the good King Henri, surprised by a storm in 1578, went to spend the night at the Bousquet inn. He found the wine so good and the innkeeper’s wife received him with such eagerness that at daybreak, the storm having calmed, the Vert Galant allowed his hosts to build a noble house in place of their dwelling.” He told them: “you will call it Lou Castelot, in memory of me.”
The Gascon with the white plume granted the happy owners the right to add to their home two towers and to build a large and superb dovecote, seigneurial symbols. The pigeons feasted on 200 hectares.
Exactly four centuries later, in 1978, Jean-François Janoueix acquired it. With the energy that characterises him, he decided to make of this forgotten and abandoned estate a growth of exceptional standing. He asked Didier Beillon, cellar master and oenologist, to collaborate on this project and to resurrect this Saint-Émilion Grand Cru on the advice of Stéphane Toutoundji, oenologist, and Hubert de Boüard, consultant oenologist.
Sheltered from the north wind by the hill of Château Quintus, from which it is separated only by the national road 67A Libourne-Bergerac, and also from Château Monbousquet grand cru classé, the Château Le Castelot vineyard enjoys a happy climate. Merlot and Cabernet Franc grow on a sandy soil with a gravel-clay and ferruginous subsoil. The wine thus produced is aged in fine-grained oak casks.
All these elements contribute to a wine with a fine bouquet and great finesse, quickly giving an excellent bottle which, however, can be kept for 10 to 25 years depending on the vintage. It is a wine with “panache”, as shown by this non-exhaustive list of awards gleaned over ten years: vintages 1978 and 1986, gold medal at the Foire de Paris; vintage 1979, gold medal at Vinexpo; vintages 1981 and 1985, gold medal at the Concours National des vins de France; vintage 1982, Trophy of the Chapitre des Honneurs de Saint-Émilion; vintages 1982 and 1983, gold medal at the Concours des Vins d’Aquitaine; vintage 1987, gold medal at the Concours Général Agricole de Paris.
A visit will allow you to discover the Henri IV museum and a collection of vine and wine tools.
La Maison Joseph Janoueix also distributes the family estates: Châteaux La Croix, La Croix Saint Georges and La Croix Toulifaut in Pomerol, Châteaux Haut Sarpe, Franc-Cantenac and La Confession in Saint-Émilion, Château Saint Genès and Château La Gasparde in Côtes de Castillon, Château Croix-Mouton and Le Conseiller in Bordeaux Supérieur, Château La Rose Saint-Georges and Château Cap St-Georges in Saint-Georges Saint-Émilion.