Château Chante Alouette

In best company - Château Chante Alouette

Château Chante Alouette is located in the famous commune of Saint-Émilion in the east of Bordeaux. Here, it is in best company, as it borders on the Grand Cru wineries Château Pavie and La Gaffelière. The estate is itself classified as Grand Cru, and with meticulous care, Château Chante Alouette manages to maintain this classification every year.

The estate was taken over in 1995 by the d'Arfeuille family, which already owned several vineyards in Libournais. Therefore, they could immediately fall back on a wealth of experience in order to be able to give the estate the right impulses. Thus, the cultivation area was enlarged and a combination of traditional viticulture and modern technology was applied in order to make the wines qualitatively competitive to the well-known neighbours. Today, Benoit d'Arfeuille is responsible for the management of Château Chante Alouette.

Terroir in Saint-Émilion

Saint-Émilion is located east of the town of Libourne, on the "right bank" of Bordeaux, where a higher proportion of Merlot typically characterizes the wines. The soils are mainly sandy with clay subsoil, which brings out in the wines chraracteristics such as elegance, charm and suppleness.

Climatically, the wine of Château Chante Alouette benefits mainly from the mild springs, the rather cool summers, which are however quite long and thus offer good time for the grapes to ripen. The planting density in the vineyard is about 5500 plants/hectare, the average age is 35 years. The yield is 37 hl/hectare.

The wine from Château Chante Alouette

The wine is vinified with a high proportion of Merlot, typical of the region. The distribution is:

• 80 % Merlot
• 20 % Cabernet Franc

In the cellar, barriques are used according to Bordeaux tradition, with a 30% share of new wood.

Environmental protection also plays a major role for the family behind Château Chante Alouette, so practices are applied in viticulture that reduce the ecological footprint. Of course, this reduces the yield, but in this way, nature is preserved for the future, so that the wine can be enjoyed for many years to come.