Just near the motorway, we are plunged into a peaceful greenery. Château de Reignac, a magnificent residence of the 16th century, is nestled in the middle of the park. The team welcomes you warmly. The owners Stéphanie and Yves Vatelot, Nicolas Lesaint, the technical manager, and Marion Bechu, called here “the guardian of the temple”.
A kind of mild madness emanate from the team. To begin with the owners. Wine lovers, they buy the vineyard in 1990. What a challenge! All has to be done in the vineyard, in the cellars, in the chateau. The surface area was half of today (at present 80 ha planted among which 2 for the white wine – Sauvignon Blanc and Gris, Sémillon). The Vatelots undertook to reshape everything and to innovate in the cellars. The environment is at the heart of their concerns from the beginning. In 1993 they dug a lake. Besides the pleasure which it provides, it especially serves as a natural temprature regulator for the vineyards. In 2006, a water treatment plant of the wine-making effluents will be built, completed in 2010 by the plantation of 3,500 sqm of bamboos.
Nicolas Lesaint, the “conductor” as he is called here, bears in himself the love of nature, but also a bit of poetry. This professional committed in the approach of sustainable protection of the Reignac's vineyard also hides a writer. What better author for the blog than the person directly tuned in the vineyard. This logbook redraws as much the work in progress as the highlights of the Château, or precious information that can interest the neighbours in terms of progress of the diseases for example.
But before that, Nicolas Lesaint especially is the one on who relies the good health of the vineyards and the wines of the house. Here, the management of the vineyard is thought to limit inputs. Biodiversity is favoured. Between the rows, every year leguminous plants and flowers are planted. Sustainable viticulture implies a constant reflection on the interaction between the vine and the environment. They set up a collaboration with INRA. These works especailly enabled to find a mushroom able to fight against the powdery mildew.
The wines produced on the domain are classified in AOC Bordeaux Supérieur. Not easy to stand out in front of the number! Situated not far from Bec d'Ambès, Château de Reignac has the peculiarity to accumulate the best soils of the right bank (clay and limestone) and the left (clay and gravels). This peculiarity makes it close to the greatest chateaus of Bordeaux and enables Château de Reignac to produce very fine wines. When Yves Vatelot took over the chateau, he had much to do on quality.
In 1996, to mark the rise in quality, the chateau launched Grand Vin de Reignac. And the recognition quickly came. The chateau was elected among the 50 best Bordeaux including all appellations and classifications in a blind tasting by the European Grand Jury. Robert Parker awarded a 90/100. Reignac seemed to have a beautiful future ahead.
In 2002 they created the cuvée Balthus, 100% Merlot stemming from clay and limestone plots. It is entirely vinified in barrel according to a process patented by Yves Vatelot and in view of the quality this method provides, he also used of Grand Vin. The advantage of the vinification in barrel is the extra sucrosity it brings.
Today the range is simple and legible: white Reignac (6,000 bottles a year), Château de Reignac (80 to 120,000), Grand Vin de Reignac (120 to 230,000) and Balthus (8 to 10,000). Wines which are all regularly awarded a medal in the competitions, and which are ranked ahead of the greatest in blind tastings. A quality that Paolo Basso could notice during his visit in April.
In parallel of the work in the vineyard, Château de Reignac shaped its image, but also the reception services. You should really discover the exceptional tasting tower created in a 16th-century dovecote, the 18th-century Eiffel greenhouse. And in project, a fragrant garden to complement the visit.
Take a foretaste of Reignac's spirit by visiting the website and especially the blog! A proof that we can be a Grand and nevertheless close to each of us, with in addition a touch of originality!
Sylvia van der Velden
Very nice nose, fine and fruity woody side, ripe, with a beautiful expression. Rich, warm with a nice sucrosity, very nice volume, structured and quite tasty, numerous and slightly astringents tannins, quite persistent finish with a beautiful intensity backed by the alcohol. Ageing: 2020-2030.
Quite beautiful nose with ripe wild berries, good woodiness with mild spices. Nice sucrosity at first taste, medium body, beautiful savoury material, dry tannins, quite long finish where the flavours come out again. Ageing: 2018-2025.
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