Visits

Château Beauregard
Pomerol (France)

             
 

Château Beauregard is one of the 8 unofficial Grands Crus (Great Growths) of Pomerol. The estate, founded in the 11th Century by the Knights of Malta, includes an elegant 18th Century mansion overlooking sloping vineyards, which produce pleasant Pomerol wines.
 

TASTING
All these wines are blends of 70-80% Merlot, 20-30% Cabernet Franc (depending on the year).

Château Beauregard, 2005
Very good. A dark garnet colour, slight smell of truffles and wild mushrooms, silky tannins, slight acidity. (Jan 2007)

Château Beauregard, 2004
Very good. Clear dark garnet colour, mineral smell, a rather pleasant and complex taste of wild berries. A well-balanced and structured wine. (Jan 2007)

Château Beauregard, 2000
Good. Dark garnet colour, a little dry on the palate with a tinge of unexpected acidity in mid-mouth. (Jan 2007)

Le Benjamin de Beauregard, 2004
Good. Can be consumed earlier than the first wine, of a lighter ruby colour, shorter and lighter on the palate, rather supple. (Jan 2007)

Vineyard
17.5 ha, 70% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Franc. Vines are about 35 years old and planted in clay, gravel and sandy soils. Manual harvesting and sorting (in the vineyard and after harvesting), mechanical de-stemming.

Winemaking
The grapes are lightly crushed, then subjected to cold maceration in small, parcel-specific stainless steel vats, then alcoholic fermentation. Malolactic fermentation of the best wine (60% of the production) takes place in new French oak barrels, and in vats for the rest. The Cabernet wine undergoes malolactic fermentation in 1-year old barrels.

The first wine, Château Beauregard, is aged 18-20 months in oak barrels, including 5-6 months on lees, while the second wine, Le Benjamin de Beauregard, is aged for a shorter period. The vin de presse, which is extracted with a vertical press after the malolactic fermentation and aged separately for 6 months, is incorporated to the first wine (to constitute about 3-8%).

After aging, the wine is blended, slightly filtered and bottled unfined. The estate produces about 90,000 bottles/year.

Wines
·  Château Beauregard
·  Le Benjamin de Beauregard