More than any other year, in 2022 Château La Gaffelière will have been able to make noise in this vineyard, which is usually so peaceful.
History
If many castles are now owned by large groups, Château La Gaffelière is one of the "irreducible Gauls" and can boast of being owned by the De Malet Roquefort family for more than three centuries. We have to go back to 1705 to see the family take the reins of the estate, a good 318 years back.
In the 14th century, the family home was a leper hospice set up just outside the town of Saint-Émilion. You can imagine that these cripples should not wander the streets of the city in full view of everyone, and especially the nobles.
You should know that in old French leprosy was said to be gaffé, so we can make the connection with the fact that to walk they needed a gaff or a stick. Gaffélière thus meant the "zone of lepers".
Nowadays, there are no more invalids on the horizon, but rather a château recognized as one of the icons of the vineyard, and for good reason.
It was in 1955, the year of publication of the first classification, that the property obtained the Holy Grail by being promoted to the rank of Premier Cru Classé B, which made it one of the 11 best in the appellation at that time.
However, in 2022, the family made the decision to leave this same classification.
But why such a reversal of the situation a few weeks before the publication of the new ranking?
In reality, for several years the family no longer found themselves in these new classification criteria, put in place more than 10 years ago, abandoning the original terroir aspect in favor of criteria, let's say, more marketing and commercial.
This is why, unanimously, the De Malet Roquefort family, represented by Alexandre, decided to leave the classification, imitating the Châteaux Cheval-Blanc, Ausone and Angélus which had also made this choice.
Today the property is therefore integrated into the Saint-Émilion Grand Cru appellation.
A land of excellence
The castle is located in the historic part of Saint-Émilion, with the no less famous Ausone, Belair-Monange and Pavie as neighbors.
Therefore, it is easy to understand that this terroir is conducive to the production of an exceptional wine.
The vineyard is divided into plots which are located in three distinct areas:
- A hillside part shared with Ausone and Belair-Monange on clay soil with blue clay.
- A hillside part located towards the Pavia coast on limestone soil in Astérie.
- A foot part of the coast which passes in front of the castles Pavie and Larcis Ducasse on clayey-sandy soil.
A diversity of soil which perfectly illustrates the profile of the wines of the château.
In order to work with even more precision, a study of the soil was made and made it possible to map the entire vineyard, with the aim of exploiting each plot in the best possible way.
The vineyard covers an area of 38 hectares, 22 of which were previously classified. A majority of Merlot (60%) and a growing share of Cabernet Franc (40%) are grown there.
Since 2001, the château has undertaken a major replanting plan for Cabernet Franc, for two reasons: the first being that Cabernets are the grape varieties best able to adapt to changing climatic conditions, with vintages who want to be more and more solar, the second being to return to the very essence of the wines of La Gaffelière, which allows us to get closer and closer to the historic grape varieties of the château.
Today, the property produces two wines. The first wine, formerly classified, under the name of Château La Gaffelière, and a second, under the name of Clos La Gaffelière.
You should know that in Saint-Émilion it is not the châteaux that are classified (as in the Médoc), but the plots of vines. This is why, not being classified, Clos La Gaffelière has its own vines and benefits from its own plot work, which makes it a wine in its own right, and not a second wine strictly speaking.
The vines are planted on the foot of the hill and the grapes are vinified in a separate cellar. Moreover, it is a wine that is recognized as being one of the very good quality-price ratios of the appellation.
Vineyard work designed for the future
Nowadays, more and more estates work the vines using organic and/or biodynamic agriculture.
Although La Gaffelière does not use either of these two types of culture, the castle is certified HVE3 (High Environmental Value level 3), and advocates sustainable agriculture. Organic is not, for them, the only solution for the future.
Agroforestry is therefore used, with in particular the replanting of trees in the vineyard in order to bring life back to the plots of vines, and above all to provide a habitat for birds and bats which are of precious help in the elimination of pests.
In addition, the grass between the rows of vines is preserved, with the aim of limiting the appearance of mildew as much as possible, but also of preserving a certain freshness at the foot of the vines during hot weather, as we have seen during of summer 2022, finally it will help to promote soil biodiversity.
As you will have understood, the objective here is therefore to return to the cultivation techniques of yesteryear without having any restrictions in the methods used so as to have greater flexibility.
On the vineyard, there is a historical plot nicknamed "the bakery", we can find about fifteen vines dating from 1933. The symbolism wants that the count Léo de Malet Roquefort (current owner) was also born in that year.
A cellar that meets the requirements
At the dawn of autumn comes the time of the harvest, although over the years it is getting earlier and earlier, especially in 2022 when the first bunches are harvested at the beginning of September. At Château La Gaffelière, they are done manually. Once the bunches of grapes have been harvested, they follow their path directly to the cellar. From there will follow several stages ranging from destemming to sorting to vatting.
The best grapes will be preserved and vatted by gravity in superb double-walled thermo-regulated stainless steel truncated vats.
The advantage of such vats is to allow more precise work on the grapes, better extraction of tannins, but also to be able to carry out better plot action in order to extract the maximum character from each plot.
Nowadays this vat room, inaugurated in 2013, is a major asset essential to the production of an exceptional wine.
Once the vinification is finished, it is time for the aging. For that, go to this superb underground barrel cellar where the temperature and humidity are perfectly controlled and very stable. Once again, all the conditions are met.
At La Gaffelière, the main part is done in oak barrels with 60% new wood and 40% having already known a wine. The toast is medium so as not to impact the wine too much by the aromas linked to the wood while giving it a silky texture, so characteristic of the wines of the château.
The aging lasts about 14 to 16 months depending on the vintage. The final blend is decided by mutual agreement between the management, the cellar teams and the essential consulting oenologist Stéphane Derenoncourt, a leading figure on the right bank.
The wine is bottled at the château at the end of spring before being kept all summer long, before being delivered to customers during the month of September.
Over the years, Château La Gaffelière has established itself as an essential property in Saint-Émilion where the family spirit reigns in perfect harmony with this wonderful terroir.
An exit from the classification which will have made noise but which will in no way taint the wines, proves this radiant 2022 that I had the opportunity to taste during the week of futures.
