Château Clarke is a wine property of

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

of based in the Listrac-Médoc AOC and classified as

Cru Bourgeois The Cru Bourgeois classification lists some of the Château#Bordeaux, châteaux from the Médoc that were not included in the Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855, 1855 Classification of ''Crus Classés'', or Classed Growths. Notionally, ...

History

In the 12th century, the

Cistercian The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contri ...

monks of the Vertheuil Abbey established the first grapevine. The estate would permanently bear Tobie Clarke's name in 1818, when the knight Clarke purchased the land. Baron Edmond de Rothschild became the landowner in 1973. Following the change of ownership the neglected vineyard was re-planned, and then completely recreated between 1974 and 1978, to attain a final wine-producing area of 54 hectares. Today, the vines are planted on clay–limestone hilltops, the optimum soil and environment for the Merlot grape. Following the death of

Edmond de Rothschild Baron Abraham Edmond Benjamin James de Rothschild (; 19 August 1845 – 2 November 1934) was a French member of the Rothschild banking family. A strong supporter of Jewish settlement in Palestine, his large donations lent significant support to ...

the estate was inherited by his son,

Benjamin de Rothschild Benjamin de Rothschild (30 July 1963 – 15 January 2021) was a French banker, the owner of the Edmond de Rothschild Group from 1997 until his death in 2021. He was the son of Edmond Adolphe and Nadine de Rothschild. He was married to Ariane ...

and Ariane de Rothschild. Edmond chose Château Clarke as his last resting place and is buried in the grounds of the chateau.

Soil

The vineyard is made up of

Cabernet Sauvignon Cabernet Sauvignon () is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Australia and British Columbia, Canada to Lebano ...

(48%),

Merlot Merlot ( ) is a dark-blue-colored wine grape variety that is used as both a blending grape and for varietal wines. The name ''Merlot'' is thought to be a diminutive of , the French name for the blackbird, probably a reference to the color ...

(42%),

Cabernet Franc Cabernet Franc is one of the major black grape varieties worldwide. It is principally grown for blending with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in the Bordeaux (wine), Bordeaux style, but can also be vinified alone, as in the Loire (wine), Loire's C ...

(8%), and

Petit Verdot Petit Verdot is a variety of red wine grape, principally used in classic Bordeaux blends. It ripens much later than the other varieties in Bordeaux, often too late, so it fell out of favour in its home region. When it does ripen it adds tannin, ...

(2%), planted on a limestone ground calcareous eocene and calcareous clay (spacing: 6060 vines/ha). It is a traditional

vine training The use of vine training systems in viticulture is aimed primarily to assist in canopy management with finding the balance in enough foliage to facilitate photosynthesis without excessive shading that could impede grape ripening or promote grap ...

, and the pruning is in Double Guyot. The entire surface area was drained prior to planting and again when the vines had matured between 1987 and 1989. The plantations began in 1974 and were completed in 1978.

Wine

The maturation takes 12 to 18 months, and the fining is done with egg white. The production is about of 150,000 to 250,000 bottles per year.

References

External links

Rothschild wine activitiesCompagnie vinicole Edmond de Rothschild
Bordeaux wine producers Rothschild family residences {{coord, 45.0661, -0.7745, display=title