Le Cloître des Cordeliers

Seven centuries of history in the heart of the majestic city of Saint-Emilion

Le Cloitre des Cordeliers was built by the Franciscans in the fourteenth century. Before the construction of the cloister, the Franciscan brothers occupied a building located outside the town of Saint-Emilion. After the various Anglo-French wars and between the King of France and Duke of Aquitaine it was destroyed.

In 1382 Pope Clement V, reigning at the time, (the same one that was at the origin of Château Pape Clément in Pessac Léognan) and King Richard II of England therefore agreed to a new concession to the Franciscan friars, in the heart of the walled city of Saint-Emilion. The only way to protect them from the different invasions, attacks and other wars that the region was the theater. The construction was spread out over two centuries, from the fourteenth to the sixteenth. At the time when Aquitaine had become English through the marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine to Henry II in 1152 it was not surprising that the concession was granted by the king of England.

The Cordeliers cloister in form of the sixteenth century had a convent, a church, a courtyard entrance, a winery, a winery, cellar, garden and a main building with six rooms.

In 1789, during the French Revolution, the monastery was seized as national property and largely destroyed. It remained in a total abandonment status until 1892. I this date, the former Franciscan monastery was bought by a family, with probable origins in Champagne: The Meynot family. This family embarked on the production of sparkling wine, something quite ‘unique’ in time for the region.

In recent years, the house LE CLOÎTRE DES CORDELIERS embarked on a process of building restoration (de-vegetation, restoration Companions …), upmarket by working on the quality of its sparkling wines, redesign packaging bottles and intensified communication of the brand while maintaining the spirit of the place in order not to distort history.

Where does the name “Le Cloître des Cordeliers” come from?

This name was given by John of the Cross Beauffort during the Seventh Crusade because of their clothes made of a sheet and a thick rope belt. The family is Beauffort very well known for its members who distinguished themselves in the various Crusades. It was also highly graded in the armies of kings Charles IV of Luxembourg, Charles V, the Lord of the House of Burgundy but also of King Philip IV of Spain.

What do you look for when you are making yours wines?

“What we are looking above all is something ‘easy’ but fruity, and light. The fruit and finesse of the bubbles. The development of the traditional method is practical and really seeks to sublimate the characteristics of the Bordeaux varietals Crémant. ”

Side anecdote:

vert-de-vin-cordeliers-saint-emilion (15) Le Cloître des Cordeliers has often served as a movie set, opera or theater. This was the case in 1950 more notably. Director Pierre Gaspard-Huit came to shoot some scenes of the film “The bride was too qute” with Brigitte Bardot and Micheline Presle. Here the video, the Cloitre des Cordeliers is visible early in the first and the second level of the second minute of this trailer.

Les Cordeliers also served as model in 1831 to create the setting of the opera “Robert le Diable” by Giacomo Meyerbeer, Eugène Scribe and Germain Delavigne, Opera Le Peletier de Paris.

Thanks to Stanislas Cattiau for his hospitality.

Jonathan Choukroun Chicheportiche vert-de-vin-cordeliers-saint-emilion (51)