Head of Domaine Marquis d’Angerville, which has been in his family for 220 years: “A musician once said to me…d’Angerville wines are Bach”.
For the sixth interview in Le Figaro Vin’s series we make our first visit to Burgundy where Guillaume d’Angerville, #45, creates some of the region’s most elegant wines.
Le Figaro Vin: How does it feel to be crowned a winemaking champion?
Guillaume d’Angerville: I don’t feel anything because I don’t see it that way. From my perspective, it’s my terroir that is the winemaking champion, not me. I am very fortunate to work with these terroirs and my job is to do my best to help them achieve their full potential.
Have you been training for long?
My background is rather unusual. My father strongly encouraged me to do something else with my life before taking on the estate and I followed his advice. I was a banker for many years. I still spent a lot of time on the estate, of course, and I rarely missed a harvest. My real training only started 20 years ago. 2022 was my 20th harvest.
Who is your mentor?
I have a number of mentors. I was lucky enough to spend a lot of time with Aubert de Villaine (of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, ed.) over a period of almost 10 years, when we jointly ran the team applying for World Heritage site status from Unesco. We worked together closely and, without being aware of it, I learnt a great deal from him during that time – even though we never talked directly about our estates or how to make wine. We remain sufficiently close for me to call him from time to time when I have a question, or feel uncertain, or want to get a different perspective on things. I should also mention two other mentors, Dominique Lafon and Jean-Marc Roulot, who, by a strange coincidence, are both from Meursault. They were enormously helpful when I took over the estate. They are not so much mentors as interlocutors with whom I can have the kind of completely honest conversations that help me progress.
Is wine a team sport?
Yes of course, you might even say that our wines would be every bit as good if I wasn’t there. I am just a team leader. I try to instil a desire for excellence in my team, but it’s the team that does the work. Good wine starts in the vineyard, and our vines are tended by a team of winegrowers who are passionate about their craft. Everything else flows from that: the harvest, the vinification, the élevage. My role is to supervise, to make sure we attend to every last detail in order to achieve the best possible results.
What is the key to making a good wine? The terroir or the winemaker?
Without a doubt, the terroir matters more than the winemaker. But without the winemaker the terroir cannot fully express itself. It’s a reciprocal relationship. A journalist once said to me, “Guillaume, your wines are not made they are born”. That made me realise that I am a bit like a midwife whose role is to help with my wines’ birth and ensure that they are born healthy, even that they are well brought up. When you have children, you appreciate that you have some influence, but you know that it’s limited. A child’s personality has to develop independently. You have to be there for your terroir, but also careful not to get in the way.
To whom or to what do you owe your success?
Above all, I owe my success to our very distant ancestors, to those Cistercian monks of Burgundy who understood the region and designed the template for Burgundian viticulture. We cannot overstate the fact that the Burgundy of today owes everything to those people who worked the land with quite extraordinary self-sacrifice and persistence. At a more personal level, I am indebted to my grandfather and my father, who have both played an exceptional part in our estate’s success. My grandfather was a major contributor to the fight against fraud in Burgundy, and to the move to estate-bottling. For 52 years my father was a servant to Burgundy wines. He left the estate in perfect condition with an impeccable reputation. When I came on the scene the level was so high that I had a long way to fall but, in all honesty, I couldn’t fail. I think I have moved the estate forward, through a combination of hard work, humility, and a passionate desire, shared with my team, to make the best possible wines. You have to have good people around you and that is one of my strengths: picking genuine talent and knowing how to delegate.
Was your father proud of you?
He never said so to me. Some kind souls have told me that he was, and I am soft enough to believe them.
Who is your biggest supporter?
I hope that my wife is. You could also say it’s a bottle of Clos des Ducs. My reputation, at some level, is indistinguishable from that of Clos des Ducs.
Your favourite colour?
Red.
The king of grape varieties?
You already know the answer, Pinot Noir.
Your favourite wine?
Clos des Ducs, inevitably.
Your favourite vintage?
I would pick out 1964 as the best vintage in living memory in Volnay. Were I to choose from the wines I have made myself, then it would be a very close call between 2010 and 2020, with 2020 just ahead, though it is still much too early to say. The jury is still out.
If your wine was a person, who would it be?
It is frequently said that a wine is like its maker. I like wines that are very elegant, very precise, very distinct, and very pure. A musician once said to me that Lafarge wines are Mozart and d’Angerville wines are Bach. That is high praise indeed. I wouldn’t dare say it myself, but I am delighted to hear it said.
What are the best circumstances in which to taste your wine?
With serenity, in a relatively small group, and ideally in my cellar.
With whom?
With friends, of course. The main thing is to taste with people who love wine, who do not overinterpret, who simply want to enjoy the wine and decide whether or not they like it. And I find, increasingly, that I prefer plain language, free from superfluous description, and a relaxed tasting, free from endless comparisons of one wine to another.
Have you ever thought about chemically enhancing yourself, or your wine?
Personally never, still less for my wine. It is a topic that crops up regularly these days, in conversations about global warming and its potential impact on Burgundy and on wine. I always say – somewhat guiltily – that global warming has some upsides for us, in particular that we now get to harvest fully ripened grapes which don’t need adulterating with sugar. Since I took over the reins, 20 years ago, I have never chaptalized my wines. The question came up in 2021 because the grapes had a much lower sugar content than usual. I chose not to add sugar and the alcohol level of my Volnay Premiers Crus is going to be in the region of 12.5% – the lowest in the last 20 years. The minute that we start to tamper with the grape juice that is destined to be wine, we upset a natural balance that we can never then recreate. It is better to stick with the natural balance.
For what price would you be prepared to sell your estate?
I cannot answer that question. You have to appreciate that the estate has been in my family for 220 years. I am the sixth generation. Since selling is not in the frame, you could say the estate is priceless.
Who is your strongest competition in Burgundy?
I can’t think of any. What is deeply intriguing about this region is that we are not competitors in the usual sense. Each winemaker has his unique terrain, makes distinctive wines, and has his own following. Every winemaker in Burgundy could sell his crop several times over. By the same token, in Volnay there are some very good winemakers and we are all friends. My real adversaries are the people who make my job much more difficult, all the bureaucrats who tie our hands with endless red tape. In all honesty, it’s bureaucracy that is the enemy.
What are you most proud of?
Do you know the quote from Winston Churchill? “My most brilliant achievement was my ability to be able to persuade my wife to marry me.”
What has been your most innovative strategy in the vineyard and in the cellar?
In the vineyard, I don’t know if I can claim that being biodynamic is an innovation, but it is the development that has truly changed my viticulture and my wine, and which now underpins the estate. As for the cellar, I cannot claim to have made any hugely innovative changes. I have often been asked: “What has your former profession as a banker brought to the table?” In banking every detail counts, and when you have to follow a process you approach it systematically, one step at a time, looking for incremental improvements. I have tried to replicate that approach in both the winery and the cellar, aiming for marginal gains: this year for example, we have invested in a state-of-the-art wine pump. We are talking minor details in themselves but, when you add them all up, they make all the difference.
Who would be your ideal successor on the podium?
We have a huge number of talented young winegrowers which makes me extremely optimistic for Burgundy’s future. Many of them have travelled elsewhere, tried out other ways of working, and have then come back full of promising ideas. Plenty of names spring to mind – and not necessarily only those who sell their wines at €1,400 a bottle. As for my successor at the domaine, that question is already percolating. I hope that by the end of the year, or next year at least, I will be in a position to announce who will take over.
Owner and winemaker of Château Haut-Bages Libéral in Pauillac and Château Ferrière in Margaux: “If it was a person my wine would be an opera-singer, like Pavarotti”.
The fifth in Le Figaro Vin’s series brings us back to Bordeaux to meet Claire Villars-Lurton, #46 best winemaker in France, who has embraced biodynamic viticulture to create her exquisite wines at her two estates. In her interview she shares her passion for a vocation to which she has devoted the last 30 years.
Le Figaro Vin: How does it feel to be crowned a winemaking champion?
Claire Villars-Lurton: I am not sure that I am a winemaking champion, but I do feel that I am now on the right path and that I have fully found my feet. When I started there was so much to learn and I really struggled. After a time I wanted to take the lead. Today I feel that everything I have set in train makes sense and that I have a clear grasp of the way ahead.
Have you been training for long?
Yes, for almost 30 years. I have tried a variety of approaches and it hasn’t always been easy. I question almost everything and am never satisfied, which prompts me to challenge myself and also to push my colleagues out of their comfort zone. I cannot bear being comfortable and I don’t like treading water. It is now over 20 years since I took over at Château Haut-Bages Libéral and Château Ferrière. For the last 15 years I have immersed myself in a comprehensive training in biodynamic agriculture. I think it’s wonderful that there is now so much awareness and appreciation of its methodology, so much expertise, research, and literature, all of which paves the way towards an alternative viticulture.
Who is your mentor?
I have a number of mentors. The most important guide on my biodynamic adventure has been Alain Moueix who, crucially, has convinced my colleagues that this is the way forward. Jacques Lurton has shared his expertise on all things wine. Alain Canet (agroforestry adviser to Château Cheval Blanc, ed.) has helped me with the planting of trees in the vineyards. Four or five years ago I, my husband Gonzague (Lurton, owner of Château Durfort-Vivens, ed.), and the agronomist Konrad Schreiber, set up a knowledge-sharing platform for winemakers to pool their experience and expertise, “La Belle Vigne”. I have found this really helpful.
Is wine a team sport?
More than ever, especially when you don’t take shortcuts and don’t introduce cultured yeasts. We have to work with what we have, so we need to operate as a team, from vineyard to cellar. Wine is a team sport played in front of a huge number of spectators who are focused on the product.
What is the key to making a good wine? The terroir or the winemaker?
Always the terroir! But you need both. You can make a poor wine from a great terroir, while a good winemaker can never work miracles with poor terroir.
To what do you owe your success?
I am not sure that I have been successful. I would say that I owe a great deal to my education and my family. I had dynamic parents who refused to rest on their laurels. Mum was a role model, even though she was very young when she left us, and I never got to see her at work. I felt secure in the knowledge that my grandfather, my uncle, and my husband all had my back. Becoming sole owner at 30 developed my sense of responsibility. I knew that my family was always there for me, so now I am delighted by the thought that my children want to take up the reins.
Are your children proud of you?
You would have to ask them, as they certainly won’t tell me, but I think so.
Who is your biggest supporter?
My husband.
Your favourite colour?
Orange, because it’s a warm, bright colour that’s full of energy. As far as wine is concerned then, of course, it’s red.
The king of grape varieties?
Entirely predictably, Cabernet Sauvignon.
Your favourite wine?
Château Haut-Bages Libéral 2018.
Your favourite vintage?
I really like 2020, which is a bit like 2010.
If your wine was a person, who would it be?
It would be an opera-singer, like Pavarotti. Brilliant and luminous, with a perfect timbre, at once powerful and restrained.
What are the best circumstances in which to taste your wine?
I try to make a wine that can be enjoyed whatever the circumstances. Ideally, it’s when you share it with good friends or with family, at your leisure and with a lot of love.
Have you ever thought about chemically enhancing yourself, or your wine?
Never! I am called Claire and a given name like that means that I cannot cheat. I think our first names determine who we are. I’m a completely open book, so much so that I reveal too much, reveal everything. So absolutely no chemical enhancement for me, not even make-up.
For what price would you be prepared to sell your estate?
Money doesn’t interest me. I will never sell. It’s not money that makes me happy; it’s the tool of my trade, my land, that brings me joy.
Who is your strongest competition in Bordeaux?
My husband. He’s not really a competitor – if he were listening, I don’t think he’d take it very well! – but, all the same, there’s a slight competitive edge between Gonzague and me, which makes us motivate each other and which always keeps us on our toes. We both want to do our best and he is always pushing me to the next level. I try to match him, or even outperform him [laughs]. We really complement each other, and we admire each other a lot; for me to love someone is to admire them.
What is the competition that you fear the most?
People who cheat or use others to get ahead. I try to succeed on my own merits.
What are you most proud of?
My children.
What has been your most innovative strategy in the vineyard and in the cellar?
Bringing trees into the vineyard, embracing agroforestry, all the work we put in today to support the soil as a living organism. Our approach is to work organically, from the soil and roots up, to produce robust, healthy grapes more resistant to diseases and parasites.
In the cellar we have developed an innovative approach to protecting our wine against oxidisation, one which allows us to use the least sulphur possible, thereby reducing additives to a minimum. The active ingredient in sulphur is only part of the whole element. Although sulphur is indispensable, its use in the battle against oxidisation can be radically reduced, and that’s where our work is bearing fruit. Indeed, we are pioneers in the field.
Who would be your ideal successor on the podium?
My children, obviously. Inheritance is a central part of our Latin culture. I inherited my property and I want to leave something for the next generation.
Founder and first-generation winemaker of Domaine Giudicelli: “Making wine requires serious commitment”.
For the fourth in Le Figaro Vin’s series, we cross the water to Patrimonio, in Corsica, where Muriel Giudicelli, #47, creates her exquisite island wines. Here she shares her journey as a self-taught winemaker, on land she cherishes with a deeply-felt love.
Le Figaro: How does it feel to be crowned a winemaking champion?
Muriel Giudicelli: I am very proud for my appellation and for raising the profile of Patrimonio. I am a first-generation winemaker in Corsica, not a Corsican by birth. I want to play my part as an ambassador for this splendid terroir.
Have you been training for long?
From the age of thirteen! I have always been in it for the long haul. Wine was a shared family passion, which gave me an early appreciation of it and spared me the messy pitfalls of adolescent drinking.
Who is your mentor?
My parents, who were engaged in a continual tug of war. My father was on team Bordeaux, my mother team Burgundy. So I was the fortunate beneficiary of a double initiation, even if I have to acknowledge that Burgundy won out.
Is wine a team sport?
Yes, absolutely, as embodied in our estate: my husband takes care of the vines while I take care of the wine. And our team is soon going to get bigger, as our children are joining us. That makes me very happy and it will keep our egos in check.
What is the key to making a good wine? The terroir or the winemaker?
The terroir. A great winemaker can make a decent fist of inferior terroir but never a great wine. On the other hand, on good terroir, even a poor winemaker given a fair wind, who sits back and largely lets nature take its course, has a chance of producing something good.
To what do you owe your success?
I was lucky to love cooking, combining the right ingredients with a good sense of taste, without ever following recipes. I use the same process in my cellar. While my daughter is studying cookery, I don’t think that studying viticulture and oenology is essential, because you are always having to unlearn what you have learnt. In order to make wine you need to know how to taste, think ahead creatively, and, above all, make the best of what you’ve got. It all comes down to balance.
Are your parents proud of you?
Yes, very proud. They are great wine lovers. That said, my father is completely partisan. Even when my first efforts at winemaking were dreadful, he was full of praise. My mother, who taught in primary schools, has a discerning palate and strictly objective standards. As a result, she is far harder to please. When she tells me that a wine is “not bad”, that’s a real compliment.
Your favourite colour?
Red. Because it’s hard to mess up a white wine in Patrimonio.
The king of grape varieties?
Niellucciu (a red grape variety native to Patrimonio, ed.). It has the temperament of a Corsican, so you need to handle it with tact and diplomacy. You must always take pains to understand it. I didn’t understand it when I started, so that drinking my wines was truly like scaling your teeth.
Your favourite wine?
A blend of Niellucciu and Sciaccarellu, which comes out in 2024. Its name will be Terra Ros (Red Earth, ed.) because the vines are rooted in red clay soil.
Your favourite vintage?
2016, for both reds and whites.
If your wine was a person, who would it be?
I hope it is like me.
What are the best circumstances in which to taste your wine?
Among friends around a good meal. The psychological factor plays a big part in tasting, perhaps even more than the wine itself.
Have you ever thought about chemically enhancing yourself, or your wine?
I used additives when I started, not knowing how to vinify. I was all over the place, trying out different concoctions, which is why I want to spare my children from making the same mistakes. It was truly sad, I was hopeless.
For what price would you be prepared to sell your estate?
The question has come up, because there was a long period when my children didn’t want to take it on. But we could never bring ourselves to fix a price, because of our visceral attachment to our land. I cannot put a price on it.
Who is your strongest competition in Corsica?
Rather than a competitor, it is someone who has been much more a mentor. Antoine Arena’s opinion really matters to me and he was the person who helped me get established. I think that, by now, I have earned his approval, which is a big thing, because he has an overall responsibility for the appellation. I would hate to disappoint him. He is something of a spiritual father to me.
What has been your most innovative strategy in the vineyard and in the cellar?
A battle I won with myself. I had some pretty fixed ideas when I started and didn’t believe in temperature regulation. Although I remain convinced that it’s a heresy in the case of white wines, I was forced to use it to deal with a micro fungus which affects the vines we use for my reds. This has required maintaining a temperature of around 25°C. I now realise that this has greatly improved the tannin extraction. It has markedly changed the profile of my reds.
Who would be your ideal successor on the podium?
I hope it will be my children. They have learnt that making wine is not just about having fun; it’s a serious business, which requires serious commitment. It is also a commitment to the appellation.
The worthy successor to his grandfather and father on an estate that produces some of the greatest Rieslings of Alsace: “Being a winemaker is not about measuring performance”.
For the second in Le Figaro Vin‘s series of the 50 best winemakers in France we head off to Alsace, where we meet Jean Boxler, #49. He embodies the latest generation of an iconic Alsace estate, whose grands crus are equally seductive for lovers of natural wines and for the most sophisticated palates.
Domaine Albert Boxler is a family property, founded in 1672, on the hillsides of the Upper Rhine commune of Niedermorschwihr. Having worked side by side with his father for 25 years, Jean Boxler pursues his craft with the artistry of a goldsmith, producing wines of exceptional finesse on terroir known, nevertheless, for being extremely harsh. With great wisdom, despite his relative youth, he reveals his vision of a vocation which is based, for him, on passion, resilience, and sensitivity.
Le Figaro: How does it feel to be crowned a winemaking champion?
Jean Boxler: There are no champions. Being a winemaker is not about measuring performance but something far deeper and far less tangible. When you choose to do this job, you should not aspire to be the best. You must simply love your vines and try to do your work with as much sensitivity as possible.
Have you been training for long?
I started in 1996, so I have 26 vintages under my belt. At the same time, each year feels like my first. I attempt to refine things year by year, to avoid acting impulsively, and to focus on quality. Just as in sport, it is practice that allows you to manage the difficult times and cope with the random contingencies, and it’s precisely the charm of the unpredictable that makes life interesting.
Who is your mentor?
My father (who passed away in November 2022, ed.) and, until I reached 17, my grandfather. They taught me my passion for the job.
What is the key to making a good wine? The terroir or the winemaker?
You need a winemaker to make good wine. But it takes both to make a great one.
To what do you owe your success?
I am not sure whether success can be measured by any specific criterion, as I don’t like to be pigeonholed in a particular style. I think that wine involves something more conceptual. First and foremost, wine is a social bond. In current winemaking talk I notice a kind of radicalisation in the approach to production methods, sometimes to the detriment of the wine. Sadly, that creates a disconnection from the true purpose of production. There is no rule book for making good wine, rather there are different ways of getting there. The secret of success is therefore more to do with passion, conviction, and self-denial, which invariably end up paying off.
My parents and grandparents had a certain style, taste, and a concern for balance and simplicity, combined with a desire to produce grapes of exceptional quality, without ever resorting to cutting corners or to technical excess. Our success is measured by the loyalty of our customers, some of whom have enjoyed our wines for over 30 years. That has given us our greatest satisfaction; we make wines that we like to drink.
Is your family proud of you?
It’s not a subject that we ever touch on. My father and I shared our passion for wine, day by day, for 25 years. He was my best guide. We never spoke about pride but about wine and nature.
Who are your best supporters?
I would say our American importer from the 1980s, Robert Chadderdon. It was a serendipitous meeting, with an outstanding taster, and we were on the same wavelength. He had a great deal of respect for our work.
Red or white wine?
I have a soft spot for Rieslings, so it’s whites. But balance, emotion, and vibrancy are what I look for most of all.
The king of grape varieties?
Riesling. It is complex, has a lot of character, and is completely uncompromising. It perfectly reflects how you nurture it. It is incapable of hiding its feelings. This is no doubt down to our transparent terroir, with its crystalline granite soils on which Riesling is an open book. Riesling combines great purity with great candour.
Your favourite wine?
The Riesling Sommerberg Grand Cru “E” (lieu-dit Eckberg).
Your favourite vintage?
2017, which was a complete vintage across the spectrum. Otherwise, no doubt, 2023!
If your wine was a person, who would it be?
A wine is made in its maker’s image
What are the best circumstances in which to taste your wine?
When you are relaxed.
Have you ever thought about chemically enhancing yourself, or your wine?
No, because winemaking is not a competition. Everything depends on being able to mitigate any defects by making the right decisions, especially during the harvest. By keeping tuned into your plots, your work is already done. Doping and comparable interventions are an admission of failure. Their consequence is that your wine can never achieve greatness.
For what price would you be prepared to sell your estate?
I have three boys, two of them interested in winemaking, so the question does not arise.
Who is your strongest competition in Alsace?
Probably Gérard Schueller, even if his son Bruno has gone down a different route. The father’s wines were monumental.
Which competitions do you dread the most?
The harvest. It is, at once, the most beautiful of times and the most anxiety-inducing, because you have to manage the human, the climate, and the condition of the vines. I would say that the greatest challenge today, because of the climate, is the fear of destabilisation.
What was your greatest win?
Passing on my love of winemaking to the next generation.
What has been your most innovative strategy?
Understanding how to work with people. Wine is a team sport.
Who would be your ideal successor on the podium?
My sons.
The technical director revolutionising Pomerol’s Château L’Évangile: “If my wine was a person, it would be Catherine Deneuve”.
Wine Lister’s parent company, Le Figaro Vin, has launched its inaugural series of the 50 best winemakers in France in 2023. Interviews with each winemaker making the top 50 will be published throughout the course of the year – in French on the Le Figaro Vin website, and in English on Wine Lister’s blog. The first in the series, #50, is Olivier Trégoat – Technical Director of Pomerol’s Château L’Évangile. Here he shares the highlights of his viticultural journey so far. In just a few years, Olivier Trégoat has managed to realise the full potential of l’Évangile, getting the most out of the appellation’s natural generosity, while reinstating a remarkable freshness in the wine.
Le Figaro: How does it feel to be crowned a winemaking champion?
Olivier Trégoat: I am very happy, but give most of the credit to the team, as it is, above all, a real collective effort. Alone, I would be good for nothing.
Have you been training for long?
Yes, I’ve been training since 1997. Everything I’ve done in my previous winemaking roles contributes to what I have achieved at L’Évangile. I got my start in Saint-Émilion, which catalysed my interest in soil studies – while my previous job as an independent consultant for large Bordeaux estates (including Château Cheval Blanc) was invaluable.
Who is your mentor?
At the start of my winemaking journey, it was Kiss Van Leeuwen, a viticulture professor at Bordeaux Sciences Agro and the Institute of Vine and Wine Sciences (ISVV). Today, my mentors are my neighbours in Pomerol – whose proximity prevents me from making mistakes and provides me with constant inspiration.
What is the key to making a good wine? The terroir or the winemaker?
The terroir. For me, climate and soil make up 80% of the wine.
To what do you owe your success?
To my education, my curiosity, and the tools at my disposal – a triptych of soil, vine, and wine.
Is your family proud of you?
Yes, I’m sure they are.
Who are your best supporters?
Paradoxically, some of my competitors, but also my former clients from when I was an independent consultant.
Red or white wine?
The older I get, the more white wine I drink!
The king of grape varieties?
Cabernet Franc. At Château L’Évangile, it’s a grape variety that we will continue to plant and conduct research into – particularly because of its freshness. And also because I love the wines of the Loire Valley!
Your favourite wine?
Château L’Évangile 2006. It is a harmonious vintage that offers the delicate touch of l’Évangile’s hallmark tannins, alongside a more fleshy characteristic – but without excess, and still retaining a beautiful freshness.
Your favourite vintage?
2011 – something slightly different. It was not well understood around the time of its release, and it came after 2009 and 2010, which were widely-recognised as exceptional vintages. It’s just starting to open up today.
If your wine was a person, who would it be?
Catherine Deneuve. A great, timeless actress who knew how to challenge herself in different roles.
What are the best circumstances in which to taste your wine?
Drink it with people you love.
Have you ever thought about chemically-enhancing yourself, or your wine?
No, never. Nature is generous in Pomerol; I always say that I have my foot on the brake rather than the gas.
Who is your strongest competition in Pomerol?
Château Lafleur.
Which competitions do you dread the most?
Frosty periods in early April.
What was your greatest win?
I had beginners’ luck. My entire career in wine so far has been a bit like a race in which I have ended up on the podium against all odds!
What has been your most innovative strategy?
While we do things in a very simple manner in the winery, in the vineyard, we make very rigorous intra-parcel selections on different soils. I sometimes say that we harvest in a Sauternes style. We love to split hairs during this critically decisive period. It’s a real challenge to be a winemaker in Pomerol today.
Who would be your ideal successor on the podium?
On the podium, Château Lafleur. They are very sharp and precise in what they do, with consistently good ideas. And for my successor at the estate, I don’t know yet…
A few words about the estate:
The property was founded in the mid-18th century under the name “Fazilleau”. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Léglise family, who played a significant role in expanding the vineyard, sold it to a lawyer named Isambert, who renamed it L’Évangile. He expanded the estate to around 13ha – not far off its current size.
Since 1990, Château L’Évangile has been under the helm of Baron Éric de Rothschild, who also owns Château Lafite in Pauillac (among others in the appellation), as well as Château Rieussec in Sauternes. His daughter, Saskia, a former New York Times correspondent writing from the Ivory Coast, and the author of a novel, joined her father in Bordeaux in 2017. The estate has benefitted from significant investments, as well as the technical expertise of the Domaines Barons de Rothschild (Lafite) teams for over 30 years. Juliette Couderc was appointed Chief Operating Officer in 2020, having previously managed the vineyards of Chinese estate, Long Dai, which also belongs to the group. She works alongside Olivier Trégoat.