Following
Lunch at Restaurant L’Atelier de Candale in Saint-Laurent-des-Combes - Bordeaux Tour 2022 by ombiasy WineTours, France
we went to Tertre Rôteboeuf in Saint Emilion, just a stone throw away from the restaurant.
Owner and Winemaker François Mitjavile was our host at Tertre Rôteboeuf.
We started the tour in the garden of Tertre Rôteboeuf, with a
magnificient view of the vineyards of Tertre Rôteboeuf. We then went down into the tiny cellar of Tertre Rôteboeuf for a tasting from barrel. We finished the visit with a tasting from bottle in the backyard of Tertre Rôteboeuf; François got this bottle from his library.
We tasted in the cellar: 2021 Tertre Rôteboeuf from barrel and 1994 Roc des Cambes from bottle. We tasted in the backyard: 1995 Tertre Rôteboeuf from bottle.
François Mitjavile is a very articulate and eloquent winemaker, a very cultivated person and a passionate communicator, who likes to illustrate what he wants to say about his wine with parallels from music, art and philosophy.
François Mitjavile is a maverick,
whose wines have become very expensive; unusually in this price
category, he does not sell his wines through the “Place de Bordeaux”
system.
A recent major article the Vigneron provided an excellent portrait of François Mitjavile.
Tertre-Rôtebœuf
Tertre-Rôtebœuf on the southern edge of Saint-Émilion lies in form of an amphitheater on the pure limestone plateau with phantastic panoramic views of the vineyards in the Dordogne valley.
We were received by François Mitjavile, the owner of Château Tertre-Rôteboeuf. He is the grand master of fruit expression and delicacy and always one of the best Saint-Émilion producers of recent decades. He is always someone who harvests particularly late, he can deal with terroir like no other.
He never vinifies against the year. At Tertre-Rôtebœuf the ratio is 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet-Franc. François Mitjavile is an absolute advocate of ripe fruit, but he never has overripe fruit in the cellar despite the fact that he only harvests in mid-October, much later than other winegrowers. This can only work if you can work well with the foliage and François is the master to keep photosynthesis running at full steam.
The wines at Tertre-Rôtebœuf always show the character of
the Bordeaux vintage. Here the style is lush, plentiful, generous yet
fresh. François is an exceptional winemaker, often unconventional in his
views with regard to the mainstream wine scene in France. He is a
maverick and refuses to take part in any classification system. His
wines are brilliant, unique, and simply phenomenal. Since Robert Parker
discovered these wines, prices very often exceed the prices of the wines
from the premier grand cru classé estates.
Saint-Émilion
Saint-Émilion with around 14,500 acres under vine is the largest winegrowing region of top-notch wines in France. There are two appellations: AOC Saint-Émilion and AOC Saint-Émilion Grand Cru which was only awarded to 85 châteaux (71 Grands Crus and 14 Premiers Grands Crus). In terms of terroir, Saint Émilion is anything but homogeneous.
As
soon as you enter the village, the limestone slopes, the “Côtes”, come
into view. The foothills of the Côtes are interspersed with larger
portions of sand and gravel. Once at the top you reach the limestone
plateau of Saint-Émilion, with the village prominently sitting in the
center of it and visible from afar. With the châteaux Beau-Séjour Bécot,
La Mondotte, Troplong-Mondot, Tertre Rôtebœuf, Clos Fourtet, among
others, here you find the top wines with the distinguished Saint-Émilion
taste profile.
Tertre Rôteboeuf
Tertre Rôteboeuf is one of the finest châteaux in Saint-Emilion. Yet,
relatively unknown. Why? First, it is not in the prestigious group of
classified châteaux, although its wines are clearly in the same league
as those wines that are made by châteauxx that are classified. And,
François Mitjavile does not sell his wines through the Place de
Bordeaux, but has his own distribution channels. Nor is he a member of
the Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux (UGCB). This is as far as I know
unique for a Bordeaux producer who is able to sell his wines at a price
level at which François Mitjavile does. Obviously, François Mitjavile
is far away from St. Emilion mainstream. He does not bother to be
included in the prestigious Saint-Emilion classification, he does not
sell his wines through the Place de Bordeaux nor does he care about a
UGCB membership.
25 years ago, Tertre Rôteboeuf was unknown. But since then, Tertre
Rôteboeuf has become a cult wine producer in St. Emilion and the price
of Tertre Rôteboeuf has gone up significantly.
Tertre Rôteboeuf looks a bit garagiste - a small estate with a vigneron
house build in the 18th century lovingly tended by Miloute and François
Mitjavile, two kilometers south-east of the village of Saint-Emilion,
not far from Château Troplong Mondot and Château Larcis Ducasse.
History
The origins of Tertre Rôteboeuf lie with a vineyard named Le Tertre that
was owned by François Mitjavile's late father-in-law. After he passed
away in 1961, the property was inherited by his daughter Miloute. She
leased it to her cousins, who owned Château Bellefond-Belcier.
Meanwhile, François Mitjavile was working at his family's successful
haulage business. He decided to change course in life and try his hand
at winemaking.
Between 1975 and 1977, he went through the school of Château Figeac.
When he returned to Le Tertre after the 2 year apprenticeship, he
suffixed Rôteboeuf (its literal translation is the unsavory "hill of the
belching beef").
1978 was the first vintage that François Mitjavile made entirely by
himself. His breakthrough on the wine scene was with the 1985 vintage.
Since the 1994 vintage, he removed the word “Châteaux” from the label of
his wines.
The Wines
The limestone based vineyards of Tertre Rôteboeuf (5.7 ha) are planted
with 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc. The Merlot vines are on
average 45 years old, while the Cabernet Franc ones are 5 years older.
François Mitjavile's winemaking approach: He picks the grapes as late
as possible and maintains low yields. The wine stays on the skins for a
long time and is aged in 100% new oak barrels for 18 to 24 months.
The very late harvest combined with long alcoholic fermentation and
extraction at 35°C results in a voluptuous, full-bodied, and very
complex wine. Super-ripe Merlot is the key.
Roc des Cambes in Cotes de Bourg
Roc de Cambes is a Côtes de Bourg estate and one of the finest producer
in the appellation today. François Mitjavile bought it in 1988.
There are 12 hectares of vines, planted with 75% Merlot, 20% Cabernet
Sauvignon and 5% Malbec. The soil is a blend of chalk and clay. Vines
are on average 50 years old. The grapes are harvested as late as
possible, and are then vinified in temperature controlled cement vats.
When François Mitjavile bought Roc de Cambes, it was in quite bad
shape. But in just a few years, François Mitjavile made Roc de Cambes
one of the top producers of the Côtes de Bourg. The second wine
labeled - Domaine de Combes - comes under the basic Bordeaux
appellation.
Domaine de l’Aurage
Domaine de l’Aurage is the most recent addition of the Mitjavile
family. Francois’s son Louis Mitjavile is completely in charge (with
his wife Caroline Mitjavile) of the estate. The vineyard area totals
18 hectares, with 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc. Annual production
is around 7,500 cases.
Prices (wine searcher)
2021 US$ 160
2020 US$ 179
2015 US$ 235
2000 US$ 402
1995 US$ 195
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