Contacts : Pierre Carle et sa fille Lucile
GFA Geoffrion
33330 Saint-Emilion
Tél. 33 (0)5 57 51 13 64
croque.michotte@free.fr
Château
Croque Michotte
The name Croque-Michotte comes from an ancient bread oven located on the estate where people used to bake their bread – a ‘michotte’ is a 2 kg loaf.
The estate has been owned by the family since 1906 when Samuel Geoffrion, the great-grandfather of the current owners and wine growers, bought Château Croque-Michotte in Saint-Emilion. The property is run today by Pierre Carle and his daughter Lucile.
Located on the boundary with the Pomerol appellation, on soils adjacent to those of the top Saint-Emilion and Pomerol growths, Château Croque-Michotte has been organically farmed since 1999.
The château produces a second wine, ‘Les Charmilles de Croque-Michotte’.
Tillage and vineyard management are done by hand and the vine rows are planted close together, as they would have been when horses were used. By keeping yields low – mainly though bunch-thinning in July and very limited use of fertilisers – the resultant wines are a true rendition of their terroir, boasting the prerequisite natural acidity common to all great wines destined for cellaring. Leaves are removed and harvesting occurs as late as possible to ensure optimum maturity.
In the winery, the grapes are destemmed, sorted using an optical grape sorter and crushed. Vatting duration is adjusted depending on the quality of the vintage and is extended by post-fermentation maceration.
The wines are matured slowly, over approximately twenty months, in accordance with the seasons and spend a year in fine-grain French oak casks.
Testimonial:
“Every year, Croque-Michotte is inspected by a Ministry of Agriculture-approved body: Ecocert FR BIO 01. The standard ensures that the health of vineyard workers and consumers is protected, as well as environmental diversity – the birds, mammals, reptiles, insects, acarids, bacteria and worms for instance – and of course, it promotes vine growth”.
Distinguishing features:
In 1999, Château Croque-Michotte became the first great growth to switch to organic wine growing.
FACT SHEET
Château CROQUE MICHOTTE
Saint-Emilion Grand Cru
Vineyard area: 13.5 hectares
Soils: clayey subsoil covered with gravel and ancient sand
Varietal range: 70% Merlot, 29% Cabernet Franc, 1% Cabernet-Sauvignon; average vine age: 52
Consultant winemaker: Stéphane Toutoundji
Link to château website: www.croque-michotte.fr
Contacts : Pierre Carle et sa fille Lucile
GFA Geoffrion
33330 Saint-Emilion
Tél. 33 (0)5 57 51 13 64
croque.michotte@free.fr