Chateau des Bachelards, Beaujolais

Certified organic (Ecocert, 2009) | Certified biodynamic (Demeter, 2015)

“A return to the great history of traditional Beaujolais wine-making from exceptionally old vines!”

Like many European wine regions including Burgundy with the famous Romanée-Conti or Clos de Bèze, the Château des Bachelards owes its existence to the Benedictine monks. It is indeed around the year 1000 that the very first vines were planted in the locality of Les Bachelards.

After Phylloxera, many of these original vines were pulled out and replanted, but for some vines, this only happened once, around 1900.

The Château des Bachelards has 10 ha of vines between Fleurie, Saint-Amour and Moulin-à-Vent, and 2 ha in Beaujolais-Villages. It has a remarkable asset: old vines 60 to 100 years old.

Fleurie is the standout wine in the Bachelards’ stable. The highest rated Fleurie on Vinous and highly respected in La Revue du Vin de France, the quality and prestige of Chateau des Bachelards harks back to a time when Fleurie was regarded higher than Gevrey Chambertin.

Countess Alexandra de Vezailles owns the estate today, and has the esteemed Stéphane Derenoncourt from Bordeaux as her consultant oenologist. Zlexandra herself is no shrinking violet, having learned her wine-making craft at Chateau Latour, Domaine de Montille and Domaine Roulot.

“I like to define the potential of a terroir and try to adapt the winemaking to express that to the maximum. The problem comes when people want to make huge wines from slight terroirs."

Stéphane Derenoncourt