Chateau Monbousquet, St Emilion Grand Cru Classé

Chateau Monbousquet is a Bordeaux red wine classified as a St Emilion Grand Cru Classé. It is located in the commune of Saint-Sulpice-de-Faleyrens some 22 miles to the northeast of Bordeaux.

Winemaking began at Château Monbousquet in the 19th century when Comte de Vassal-Montviel expanded the estate to 40 hectares, and began planting vines on a commerical scale,  bringing it to its present size—making it one of the largest estates around Saint-Emilion. The estate passed through several owners and by the first half of the 1900s had become a shadow of its former self and the reputation it had built in the 1800s. The Estate was purchased by Daniel Querre, master winemaker and œnologist, who dedicated 30 years of his life to rebuilding the vineyard. The Querre family continued his work until 1992 when the estate was acquired by the Parisian supermarket owner Gérard Perse (who later bought Château Pavie, Château Pavie-Decesse and Château La Clusière). Perse immediately set about investing in new equipment, renovating the vineyards and cellars and in 2006 all the hard work and effort was rewarded as Monbousquet was promoted from Grand Cru to Grand Cru Classé status.

Monbousquet has a remarkable terroir with warm deep gravel soils in the south and sandy-clay soils in the north. The largely gravel soils retain warmth well which is good for allowing the relatively late ripening Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc to ripen well. This accounts for the particularly large proportion of these grapes in the vineyard’s composition, unusual in St Emilion. Today the vineyards cover 79 acres.

Chateau Monbousquet is usually a blend of 60% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Franc and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. All of the grapes are handpicked. The grand vin is usually aged for 18-24 months in new oak barrels with racking every 3 months, though this can change depending on the vintage. The wine is neither fined nor filtered.

The cellar-master/oenologist is Jean Philippe Lavautour who had previously worked for over six years with Michel Rolland (who remains a  consulting œnologist).