Thursday, September 25, 2008

Chateau Meylet (St Emilion)

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Michel Favard Opening a Bottle
Chateau Meylet, Saint-Emilion (Bordeaux)
The Bordeaux region is not the first French wine region you think of when you look for biodynamic farming. That said, the wineries of the region have been more and more practicing sustanainable agriculture, if not full-blown organic farming, especially the high-end wineries where it is well understood that a healthy vineyard is the base for a good wine. This 2001 Wine Business article paints an interesting picture of the region in this regard, even if since then more wineries have adapted their vineyard management.
But on the whole, the Bordeaux region is not a hotbed of organic farming. There 1favard_maisonare still, though, a few isolated vignerons in the Bordeaux area who are pioneering the biodynamic way in spite of adverse weather conditions like rain and humidity. Michel Favard is one of them and he makes wine out of a small vineyard surface in St-Emilion (less than 2 hectares). We met him in his beautiful house in Jugazan, on the entre-deux-mers side of the Dordogne, 15 kilometers from Chateau Meylet and its vineyards. He lives in this house where he also rents a few "chambres d'hôte" (bed & breakfast) to visitors. Note this address (les Sources, Jugazan) if you visit come to Bordeaux vor VINEXPO, it is not that far from Bordeaux and the accomodations are so scarce at this time of the year in the region that most "chambres d'hôte" are booked.
I had tasted some of his wines in Paris last year if I remember, and I was particularly impressed by his Chateau Meylet, Serpes 1998, a beautiful wine in the mouth and an unfiltered-unfined, no-aditives and no SO2 wine which went through a 15 to 20 months elevage on its lees.
Source:http://www.wineterroirs.com/page/2/

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