A family property destined for a bright future.
History
To find the first trace of Château Mangot, you have to go back to around 1515. At that time, it was a small château, then owned by the Dubreuil family, of which 2 of the 7 children are intimately linked to Mangot by their title of Sieur de Mangot.
In the texts that have been found, he mentioned an estate with an area of 32 hectares.
Several owners will then succeed one another, from coopers to merchants. It was during the French Revolution that the château suffered a rather tragic fate, since it was seized and its vineyard was then fragmented.
It was not until 1954 that the property was acquired by the Petit family. But who are they?
They are a couple of modest vineyard workers employed at Château La Brande, a property located in the neighboring appellation of Castillon.
Wishing to give a new impetus to their professional life, they will then acquire Château Mangot. At that time they only owned 6 hectares, which is why in 1970 they bought another 9 hectares. As time and investment progressed, they succeeded in reconstituting the entire historical vineyard of the château, i.e. 32 hectares in one piece.
Until 1975, the date of the first vinification at the château, the family brought all of its grapes to the Saint-Émilion cooperative cellar not far from the place called La Gaffelière.
After having been able to "prowl" with Mangot, the Petit couple will also buy Château La Brande (6 km from Mangot), thus becoming owners after having been vineyard workers within this same property.
As they got older, the parents decided in 1989, after 45 years of devotion to their château, to entrust the management of the property to their daughter Anne-Marie and her husband Jean-Guy Todeschini.
It was then that a major shift was taken, that of more precise work in the vines, more respectful of the environment, in particular by reducing the use of chemical inputs then commonplace in the Bordeaux vineyards at that time. .
In 1992 they succeeded in integrating 2% of their vineyard within the Saint-Émilion Grand Cru appellation, but it was not until 1998, i.e. 6 years later, that the entire property was included in the within the same name.
The vintages pass and it is in 2008 that a new turning point is looming on the horizon since their two sons, Karl and Yann, arrive at the château after long studies in agronomy and oenology.
Studies that will allow them to travel around the world, passing through the USA and Italy, particularly in Tuscany, an essential wine region of the "big boot".
We can therefore say that it is a real family estate, since since 2008 the two generations have been working in close collaboration.
And when I was talking about turning, Karl and Yann will bring with them in their luggage organic cultivation techniques, certified since 2020, then more recently biodynamic.
A 360° turn since the acquisition by their grandparents in 1954, and rightly so, since since 2022, Château Mangot can proudly boast of having joined the famous Saint-Émilion wine classification. A well-deserved reward which is none other than the fruit of hard work and the reward of a daily commitment to the vine, its ecosystem and more generally their terroir.
Terroir with a capital T
If there are many castles that could claim to have an exceptional terroir, Château Mangot would be one of them, by far.
The property is located to the east of the Saint-Émilion appellation, at the level of the ridges, in the most hilly area. Moreover, over the whole of the vineyard there is a drop of 55 meters with a plot located at the highest at 90 meters, which makes it singularly, the highest plot of the Saint-Émilion vineyard.
Today the area of the vineyard is 34 hectares divided into 22 plots, each with its own particularity. The fact that they are distributed in hillsides will bring a great diversity between them, with in particular on the highest plot, terraces but above all a Mediterranean microclimate since this is the hottest point of the vineyard.
Very singular given the geography of the place, you can even contemplate Mediterranean plants, including very beautiful wild orchids. In addition, truffle oaks have been planted, so as to bring even more life and diversity to this already vibrant vineyard.
In Mangot there is this particularity of having in one piece 4 different types of terroirs, starting from the lowest to the highest, foot of hills, hillsides, terraces and plateaus.
But how can we talk about terroir without addressing the question of the soil itself?
Here the soils are composed of several types of clay (iron grime, brown in depth and white in height), which will give density, tension and minerality, and limestone with starfish which will confer an elegant smoothness.
Within the vineyard, 3 grape varieties are grown there, a large majority of Merlot, a growing share of Cabernet Franc with a little Cabernet Sauvignon.
You will therefore have understood, everything is in place to produce superb grapes, you still have to take the measure of the potential of such a terroir, but do not panic about that, Karl and Yann have a perfect mastery of it.
Biodynamics at the heart of concerns
Since the 2010s, solar vintages have become more and more common and have intensified until 2022 has been a year of all records.
It was therefore necessary to rethink the work in the vineyard. For what ? Quite simply because it is essential to fight actively while taking the greatest care of such a beautiful terroir.
As mentioned in Part I, the Todeschini brothers have brought organic farming back with them, which has also been rewarded with certification in 2020. However, for them it is necessary to go even further and that is what they will do by gradually integrating biodynamic farming certified in 2023 by the Biodyvin label.
Often presented as an esoteric movement by its detractors (unfortunately difficult to please everyone), biodynamics allows you to bring even more attention to your terroir while exploiting it in the most respectful way.
For Karl and Yann, it is above all a question of agronomy in the broad sense in order to cope with the change in ever more demanding climatic conditions. The idea being to give more resistance to the vine by a natural balance.
It is clear that in some years biodynamic treatments have made it possible to reduce biological treatments, which proves that there is great complementarity between the two when the techniques are perfectly mastered.
To do this, the castle therefore uses several preparations to prevent and nourish the vine.
Horsetail decoction, nettle tea, horn dung, horn silica, all these preparations are produced directly on the property and are sprayed in the vines during the various stages of its development but also, and above all, depending on the vagaries of the weather. which she has to face.
In addition, always with the aim of restoring life within the plots, one row out of two is sown with cereals, according to the needs of each one. Weeding is perfectly controlled, which also drastically reduces the risk of downy mildew (a cryptogamic disease).
It is by walking through the plots that one can realize the dedication but above all the commitment they demonstrate on a daily basis in order to produce exceptional wines, representative of the identity of this vineyard so singular.
As at the end of each summer, comes harvest time. A tedious task, very trying oh so demanding but so satisfying since it is the concretization of a daily work done upstream since the end of winter.
The choice of the order of the plots harvested is not made haphazardly, quite the contrary. Each plot is analyzed and tasted by the Todeschini family, the cellar master and the chateau’s consultant oenologist, who is none other than the talented Thomas Duclot.
For them, it is above all a question of picking the grapes at the right time, at their right maturity, avoiding at all costs the over-ripeness that many have sought in the past.
The cellar
After leaving the vineyard, the bunches head peacefully towards the cellar. Upon arrival, the grapes are de-stemmed. The beans go through manual sorting before entering the vats by gravity.
The old vat room of the castle dates from 1975, it was concrete tanks unfortunately become too obsolete over time.
This is why the château has acquired thermo-regulated stainless steel vats, which allow even more precise work during the extraction of tannins in particular.
Several techniques are used for vinification. First of all, a cold maceration, for this water at -9°c circulates in the walls of the tanks in order to have a juice which stabilizes for 5 to 10 days. The objective of this cold maceration is to facilitate the extraction of fruity aromas from the wine.
This is followed by an alcoholic fermentation stage during which pumping over is carried out in order to have the gentlest possible extraction of tannins.
Malolactic fermentation takes place in these vats, once the grape marc has been evacuated and then pressed.
The dose of sulfur added is very low, the aim being to alter the aromas and fruitiness of the wines as little as possible while helping to give the wine a certain foundation during its storage. The idea of the family is to bring out the identity aromas of their superb terroir as much as possible.
The vinification being finished, comes the stage of breeding. At Mangot there are various containers, which makes it possible to produce wines with different but complementary profiles during the final blend.
It lasts between 12 and 15 months depending on the vintage.
At first, the property uses the famous 225l French oak barrel with medium toast. They come from 8 different coopers, and are made of new wood for around 20 to 25% of the barrels used. The barrels are used for 4 years before being replaced.
In a second step, the castle makes use of jars and amphorae of different sizes. These amphorae come from Italy and are composed of an assembly of various clays. The big benefit of this container is mainly the fact that there is no contribution of tannins and aromas linked to the wood while preserving the exchange between the wine and the oxygen.
You should know that each component of the amphora will have an impact, from the size to the cooking or the type of clay used.
Finally, 3 years ago, the family acquired wooden tuns, always with the aim of reducing as much as possible the part of wine in contact with the wood, the micro oxygenation being slower there.
Here, there is no racking in order to let the wine rest as much as possible before bottling.
I was really able to realize the interest of using each container during the tasting that I was able to do with Yann during the 2022 primeurs week.
In front of me stood three batches, a blend of wines aged in an amphora, one aged in casks and a last aged in barrels before tasting the final blend. You can find my comment in my article about the wines of Saint-Émilion in the Futures 2022 section. I can't wait to discover this 2022 during the deliverables in 2025.
Finally, I would like to thank Yann for all these moments spent at the castle in his company. During my two visits I was really able to realize how passion can lead to unfailing dedication.
I have no doubt that Château Mangot is a property to follow in the years to come, and I will pay particular attention to it.