"If God forbade drinking, why would he have made Wine so good"

"Si Dieu avait défendu de boire, aurait-il fait ce vin aussi bon"

Cardinal Richelieu, Armand Jean du Plessis (1585-1642)

At Château Richelieu they believe that the famous Cardinal and his family knew what they were doing when in 1632 they were looking to acquire some of the best terroir in France and found this property in Fronsac, overlooking the Dordogne river in optimal South exposition. Our mission today is to express this wonderfull terroir in the best possible way to savour.

The terroir of Château Richelieu is blue clay and calcareous mixed with fossilized shell banks. 74% of the vineyard is planted with Merlot, 23% with Cabernet Franc and 3% with Malbec with a density of 6000 vines/ha. Very intensive vineyard work (from optimal preparation of the soil with a bio-strategy to a labour-intensive green harvest) is the basis for the healthiest grapes of the appellation and the basis for a grand vin. Traditional wine making in thermo-regulated tanks combined with state of the art know-how and techniques transforms the grapes to the best possible expression of its terroir.

They only work with yeasts which are on the skins of our healthy grapes. Industrial yeasts are not part of their winemaking philosophies. Their biological vineyard policy is the result of our respect for nature and our vines.

The consultant oenologist is the renowned Stephane Derencourt.