Malpère, a pair of producers - Château Guilhem and Château Belvèze
Château Guilhem
Château
Guilhem, in the village of Malviès, is one of the older, more established, and
also larger estates of Malepère, run and owned these days by Bertrand Gourdou,
the 6th generation, with Catherine Montahuc as his winemaker.
She has worked there since 2006, but comes from Burgundy. They have 32 hectares
of vines in production, of which 25 are Malepère and the rest produce varietal
Pays d’Oc.
The
château itself dates from the 1870s, and on some of their labels they use an
old photograph of the family from 1902. Originally the property was called
Chateau Malviès, but Bertrand thought that could cause some confusion, and
preferred to rename it, after the family name of his grandfather,
Guilhem. In the vineyard they work organically, and the cellar at first
sight looks like the classic Languedoc cellar, with old cement vats and some
old foudres. However, they have
divided the cement vats into smaller sizes, which was not easy, but nonetheless
preferable to removing copious amounts of reinforced concrete. They also
have stainless steel vats; Bertrand’s grandfather was one of the first to use
them for wine in the Languedoc, in the mid-1970s, inspired by the example of
the dairy industry. They were also
amongst the first to plant Merlot in the area, again at the beginning of the
1970s and their oldest Cabernet Franc is 15 years old.
As
Catherine explained, the characteristics of Malepère are quite different within
the appellation with the vineyards on the Carcassonne side of the hill are more
languedocien in character, whereas on
southern side of the Malepère, nearer to Limoux, the vineyards are more
suitable for the Bordeaux varieties and Grenache would simply not ripen there. Their Malepère rosé is a blend of equal
parts of Cabernet Franc and Merlot, with some fresh fruit. There are four red Malepère; Héritage Famille Guilhem has an emphasis on
fruit with a blend of Merlot and Cabernets, with an élevage in vat. Prestige
du Château Guilhem is 50% Merlot with 20% Cabernet Franc, 20% Cabernet
Sauvignon and 10% Malbec and spends eight months in old wood. With the Grand Vin the blend can change
according to the vintage characteristics, with Cabernet Franc, Cabernet
Sauvignon and Merlot, with twelve months’ barrel ageing. If it is too cool, Cabernet Sauvignon does not
ripen, but it does not like hot years either, while Cabernet Franc adapts much
better. It has some firm structured
cassis fruit and makes you think of Bordeaux, ’but with the sunshine’
added Catherine.
Clos du Blason is 90% Merlot, with one barrel of Cabernet Franc and
one barrel of Cabernet Sauvignon. The idea is to show how well
Merlot performs in the Malepère, especially when the vines are 40 years
old. This is serious with a firm oaky impact, with ripe
vanilla and cassis fruit. How will it age in bottle? For sheer
drinkability, the Heritage cuvée was hard to beat.
Château Belvèze
Château Belvèze is another traditional
estate. The 17th château in the village of
Belvèze-du- Razès has belonged to the Mallafosse family for 150 years. Guillaume
Mallafosse has 40 hectares of vines, planted with Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon
and Cabernet Franc for Malepère and Chardonnay for a Pays d’Oc. He bottled his first wine in 2003 and makes
two cuvées of Malepère, a blend of equal parts of Cabernet Franc and Merlot
with good structure and fresh fruit, and the cuvée élèvé en fût de chêne includes Cabernet Sauvignon in the
blend and is more structured with oak as well as fruit.
For Guillaume the tipicity of Malepère is its
freshness, with him observing that it is easier to drink than Cabardès. He also
considered the commercial difficulties; ‘we are very few independent growers and none
of us are well-known. The cooperatives
at Razès and Arzens, and also Anne de Joyeuse in Limoux, account for half the
appellation, but are suffocating us, the small wine growers, and
keeping the prices low”. However, he is
optimistic that Gérard Bertrand’s recent purchase of Domaine de la Soujeole
should have a beneficial effect – “il est
moteur”. On verra!
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