Chateau Bellefont-Belcier

THE ESTATE

Created in the late 18th century, the Bellefont-Belcier estate is wonderfully situated on Saint-Emilion’s south-facing slopes, neighbouring Château Pavie, Château Larcis-Ducasse and Château Tertre Roteboeuf.

Château Bellefont-Belcier originally belonged to a very powerful Bordeaux family: at the end of the 18th century, the Count Louis-François de Belcier had first founded the vineyard then, at the beginning of the 19th century, he build the Château which he named Bellefont (Belle Fontaine means ‘beautiful fountain’ and is a reference to the numerous springs hidden on the hillside into which the vines plunge their roots.)

THE TERROIR

Château Bellefont-Belcier is ideally located on the south slopes of Saint-Laurent-des-Combes in the area of the appellation Saint-Émilion Grand Cru. The vineyard extends over 13.5 hectares in one piece. It is divided into three distinct areas: the limestone plateau, the South slope clay-limestone, the clayey-sandy parcels.

On these different types of soil, we find the three red grape varieties of Bordeaux in the following proportion: 72% Merlot, 17% of Cabernet Franc and 11% of Cabernet Sauvignon spread over 28 plots. The average age of the vines is about 35 years.

VINIFICATION

Harvest dates vary by vintage and we adapt our harvest plan down to the plot or even to the parcel based on the optimum ripeness of the berries. Our team determine when to harvest through a combination of several physiological and subjective criteria, and even tasting berries by mouth is an important step in the decision-making process. Our team select which parcel block to pick by-hand only the night before.

After a meticulous selection process on the vines and in the winery, the sorted grapes are filled into concrete tanks. Fermentations are carried out without addition of sulfur, a minimum dose will be added at the end of ageing.

AGEING

The vatting process lasts 30 days, operating a gentle extraction with pigeages in tank and stirring in barrel. The juices are tasted daily in order to protect the expression of our fruit. These tastings allow us to determine the day for the running off and pressing of the grape marcs. The resulting juice is placed then in barrels for malolactic fermentation.

Château Bellefont-Belcier wines are aged in the same barrels for 15 to 18 months at constant temperature in our wine cellar. Depending on the vintage year, the proportion of new oak varies between 20 to 30%, with the balance using 1 and 2 years old barrels. 

After aging, the wines are bottled at the Château.