Giannikos Winery - Château Bellegrave

The paternal grandparents settled in the Gironde at the end of the 19th century, while the maternal grandparents arrived around 1925. Originally from Périgord and Corrèze, they devoted themselves to agriculture and viticulture in Arveyres, a commune near Libourne where Bordeaux Supérieur is made. Son Jean Bouldy and his wife Andrée bought Château Bellegrave in 1951. The couple devoted themselves to winemaking, both in the vineyard and in the cellar. In the second half of the 20th century, the Bouldys were one of the families that gave new impetus to the Pomerol appellation with courage, humility and perseverance. Jean-Marie Bouldy took over the estate in 1980 and was joined by his wife Pascale in 1995. Their children also started working on the estate (Aurélie in 2014 and Jean-Baptiste in 2015).

Small but immense, the Pomerol vineyards are a "select" terroir located 30 km from Bordeaux, near Libourne. What makes the appellation special is its unique and exceptional geological composition. It consists of stony gravel, clay and sand with a subsoil rich in iron oxide, also known as 'crasse de fer'. This perfect soil and subsoil is combined with an ideal microclimate, which contributes to the production of excellent wines. Château Bellegrave and its 8.5 hectares of vines (75% Merlot and 25% Cabernet Franc) are located in the southwest of the Pomerol appellation.

Originally, the viticultural processes used were "conventional" - absolutely sustainable (tillage by machine to avoid the use of herbicides, fertilizers, etc.), but synthetic pesticides were still used. The shock came in the early 2000s when the law required suppliers to provide safety data sheets, and Jean-Marie Bouldy discovered that certain products were dangerous! Jean-Marie Bouldy immersed herself in works devoted to organic farming, attended seminars and conferences and carried out tests and studies on selected plots and the choice was made. No more chemistry box and we switched to organic viticulture and painstaking work was needed to restore underground life in the soil and give the plants that logical ingredient we had forgotten: natural nutrition! Organic simply means following the laws of nature. Jean-Marie started organic viticulture in 2001.