Chateau Bellevue Gazin, Cotes de Bordeaux: Blaye
There’s a small outcrop in Blaye where you will find five Gazin properties. Mondesir Gazin, Mayne Gazin, Grand Gazin, Monconseil Gazin and Bellevue Gazin. The name Gazin is bound up with the history of the land – it evolved over centuries as a shortened version of the word Saracen, as this was the site of a number of key battles with the Saracen army during the Crusades. The area abounds in archaeological remains – there is even a museum in the nearby hamlet of Plassac. It certainly seems like land worth fighting over – gravel and limestone terroir, steep slopes that overlook the Garonne estuary, perfect as it turns out for growing grapes.
It was enough to convince Anne-Sophie and Alain Lancereau-Burthey to make their first foray into winemaking in 2003. When they bought it, the property was run down, and the wine was all going to the local co-operative, but they could tell the potential of the land. Just five years later, Bellevue Gazin has won numerous awards and been included in Andreas Larsson’s Selection (‘World’s Best Sommelier 2007’). The property has been entirely renovated, and there are five chambre d’hote rooms, all individually furnished.
The Lancereaus came to wine having had successful careers previously – Alain as a civil engineer and Anne-Sophie as an historian and artist. In their family history, Alain’s grandfather had some vines in Aix-en-Provence, and Anne-Sophie’s great grandfather was a wine distributor (‘we discovered on first buying Bellevue Gazin that he had bought and sold a few barrels of the wine in 1908’). There was, way back, their own foray into winemaking, but only enough to give them a taste of what they wanted to do in the future. When they were first married, they moved to Libya for four years, where they made sake, beer and wine. Alcohol was forbidden to sell, but it was ok for foreigners to make ‘for their own consumption’.
‘This meant that I could approach making wine as a process,' says Alain, 'but it took actually owning my own vineyard to start to really understand this profession’.
The couple met at a school dance as teenagers – Alain was 19 and at cadet school, Anne Sophie 17 and at a Legion d’honneur school, as both of their parents were in the military. After Libya, they had stints in London, Toronto and Paris, having four children in the process. Winemaking remained a distant dream.
It took a family tragedy to give them the impetus to do something about it. Alain’s brother died aged 42 in 1999 – ‘which made me think if not now, when?’. At the time Alain was a director in Paris of the consulting firm, Accenture, travelling everywhere, and spending little time with his family. Determined to change that, he sold his shares in Accenture and bought the chateau. They invested around 2 million euros in new barrels, chai, winery and renovating the house, and were determined to take this on together (‘after two years, one of my sons said, ‘we used to not see enough of you, dad. Now we see too much!’
Their first harvest was 2003, and from 2004, the property was enlarged, with the idea of improving profit potential, to the current 20 hectares. Grapes planted are 65% merlot, 20% old malbec, 10% cabernet sauvignon and 5% petit verdot, with vines an average of 30 years on a soil of clay and gravel. Harvesting is entirely by hand, in order to produce quality wines.
Small estates like these, where the investments to ensure quality have been high, are being hard hit by the downturn in finances, particularly if they have taken credit out to achieve their success. Today Alain is back at work in Paris to ensure money is coming in – but they will not compromise on the quality of their wine, and their customers are the better for it.
The Wines
Bellevue Gazin, Premieres Cotes de Blaye 2004
This was the second year of production since the Lancereau’s took over. 70% merlot, 20% old malbec and an even 10% split between cabernet sauvignon and petit verdot. The vines are grown on steep slopes so even in rain things dry quickly, not only because of the gradient but because of the excellent wind they receive. They since the 2005 vintage upped the size of their barrels from 225 litres to 300 litres, a typical Burgundian barrel, to reduce slightly the oaky flavour while keeping the sweetness and softness that it brings. This is a very accomplished wine, with soft sweet fruit, if a little drying on the finish. I have tasted a number of vintages now and it’s evident that this is a chateau that strives every year to do better.
They also have a second wine, Baronnets de Bellevue Gazin, and one other from a separate estate, Lers-Loumède. In addition to these, they make a clairet.
Contacts:
Chateau Bellevue Gazin
33390 PLASSAC
05 57 42 02 00