Château Franc Le Maine, Château Du Val d’Or and Château Picoron

Bardet Family estate (Château Franc Le Maine, Chateau Du Val d’Or et Château Picoron)

… A terroir interpretor from Saint-Emilion to Castillon.

The Bardet family comes from an ancient family of Girondine boatmen that use to transport agricultural products (like cereals, wine etc …) from the region of Saint-émilion to the Port of Bordeaux. As the decades passed, land acquisition opportunities were presented to them, enabling the family to acquire parcels of vines and fields.
With the arrival of the 18th century, the railway in the region marked the end of the use of barges to rail, cheaper, faster and with greater carrying capacity. This period was a turning point in the family business. They abandoned the transport activity to benefit from the agricultural production.

Sustainable Development

Today the family vineyards are managed by Philippe Bardet (on the right of the picture) assisted by his son Thibault (left photo) and Paul Arthur. Anxious to reconcile the environment and the economy (a vineyard is also a business) they are engaged in a sustainable development approach.
This commitment is reflected in particular by the practice of sustainable agriculture. That is to say, by reducing the maximum use of “intruders” (Chemical products do not merely constitute a barrier to the trunk or sheet, but penetrating inside the plant) in promoting the installation of a natural ecosystem or practicing the planting.

Always sustainable development and to minimize energy consumption, this property has a geothermal system including using the nearby river to run their tanks´ thermoregulation (read more details here).
The contractor is also actively involved in the SME 140 001.

How Philippe Bardet sees his job as winemaker?

As “a professional conductor of an orchestra.” That is to say that the wine must be a combination of terroir, passion and the winemaker. According to him “the concept of man in the word terroir is very important because the wine is made by pedoclimatic couple” is to say that man comes into play, as well as the climate and soil “for the development of the work what a wine.”

Where do the names of the properties come from?

Unfortunately the only explanation we have is for the Château Val d’Or (Saint Emilion Grand Cru). It takes its name from the village of Orval in Dordogne, in which locality was born the founder of the family vineyards, the grandfather of Philippe Bardet.

Some features:

106 hectares
Products 9 wines (5 Côtes de Castillon, 3 Saint-Emilion Grand Cru, one rosé de Castillon)
Member of the Committee AFAQ ISO 14001 (Environmental Management System)
Grassed rank two
Ageing: 1/3 new barrels, 1/3 barrels of wine and 1/3 barrels of two wines. Medium toast barrel +
Soil: For Chateau Picoron limestone and limestone, the Chateau Val d’Or sand wind for the Chateau Franc Le Maine gravelly sands, gravelly subsoil.

“Wine anecdote” :

The property has been experimenting for some years innovative sorting arrays according to their size. The idea is part of a finding of Philippe Bardet than one vine, one vine, depending on the size of the berry taste, the flavor concentration and sugar varies. This is why you find wines from the property only large or small bays.
I could taste the difference in the future vintage 2012. Wine from small bays is more tannic, more acidic, more concentrated than that from the big. According to Philippe Bardet it might be the number of seed bay.

Thanks to Philippe Bardet and Thibault for their hospitality.

Choukroun Chicheportiche Jonathan