Chateau Tour Saint-Christophe

About the producer

This is a Château we have been following closely since it was acquired by Hong Kong financier Peter Kwok in 2012. The investment in the property has seen this wine dramatically improve in the last few years. Combine this with its superb location on limestone and blue clay soils neighbouring the likes of Le Tertre-Roteboeuf and Troplong Mondot and you have one of Saint-Émilion's most exciting properties.

In the vineyard

Every year, the estate only seems to get better; the wine has never been so concentrated and balanced. Thanks to their limestone and blue clay soils the wine never feels heavy, despite the generosity of fruit synonymous with the 2018 vintage. Combine this with 50 year old Cabernet Franc vines, 60% whole grape 'vinification integral' which brings added elegance to the wine, and you have a beautifully balanced Saint-Émilion Grand Cru with incredible focus, energy and mouthwatering minerality.

The 2019 Vintage

A few words from Jean-Christophe Meyrou , general manager at Château Tour Saint-Christophe on the 2019 vintage.

How did you cope with the long dry periods and the rain at harvest in 2019?

We are lucky to have mostly clay and limestone soils. This terroir has a fantastic reaction during very dry and warm periods. What’s more, during the summer we had extremely warm days but the nights were very fresh.

The only problem was the very high alcohol potential at the start of September. The rains were very welcome to reduce this very high alcohol potential. It is the first time of my career that I am glad to have rain during harvest. 

The weather allowed us to harvest à la carte with greater freshness in some parcels and more maturity in other.  It was important not to wait too long for Merlot in order to avoid overmatured flavors.

Based on the fruit that nature provided, how did you adapt your winemaking? 

While the rain helped us to have lower alcohols, the key of this vintage was extraction. In fact, in most of the vats there was no need for extraction. The potential was already there. It was important to respect this in order to reach a great balance. 

What defines the blend and the style of the wine this year?

 For both Merlot and Cabernet, 2019 is synonymous of good balance and purity of the fruit. Personally, this vintage is an ‘in between’ of 2015 and 2016 in terms of style. 

Bordeaux has been investing in making its vineyards more environmentally friendly recently. How does this translate at Château Saint Christophe?

Like many other estates we are now HVE3 (HVE stands for High Environmental Values). This is a very important topic but many people are using it only as a marketing tool. We invest a lot of our time and money to find the best and most pragmatic approach with our vineyard, given our very specific climate. 

Read the full report: Bordeaux 2019 A Vintage Preview