Château Belgrave

The Château Belgrave is a winery in Bordeaux. 

Château Belgrave - an excellent wine estate

Its history began with Louis XV, who owned a hunting lodge on the present site. However, viticulture only really became an issue here with the Coutanceau family, when Guillaume Lawton established an unofficial classification of French wineries in 1815. The name Bellegrave then appeared for the first time with Bruno Devès, who transformed the estate and specialized in cultivation on gravel soils. To him go back the farm buildings for viticulture and the Château Belgrave in its present form.

in 1855 it received the classification as an estate of the Cinquième Grand Cru Classé, the fifth class of Grand Cru estates, with which particularly outstanding are awarded. The current name Château Belgrave was given to the estate by Marcel Alibert, who owned the estate in the early 20th century. Today Château Belgrave is managed by the wine trading house Dourthe.

The vineyards of Château Belgrave

The vineyard area covers 60 hectares, on which Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc or Petit Verdot are planted. Only three wines are produced: the main wine Château Belgrave, in smaller quantities the second wine Diane de Belgrave, whose name is a reminiscence of the past of the château as a hunting lodge, and more recently the Couronne de Belgrave. The vineyards are located on the edge of the St. Julien appellation, with only a small stream separating the estate from the neighboring château of Lagrange.  

The classification of Château Belgrave is due to its excellent deep gravelly soils, which give the wine its qualities. Under the gravel, at the highest point of the vineyard, there is mainly clay, ideal conditions for

• Cabernet Sauvignon and
• Petit Verdot

while the soil becomes more sandy towards the water, ideal for Merlot.

Modern cellars in the ancient Château Belgrave

in 2004, the cellar was completely overhauled, so that now stainless steel tanks of various sizes are available for fermentation. Every 15 years, the cellar is overhauled to keep the technology up to date. The aging of the wines of Château Belgrave takes place in barriques, as is typical of the region.