Château Villa Bel-Air

Chateau Villa Bel-Air is located in Saint Morillon in the heart of the Graves appellation. In the 18th century, Louis Dufaure, marquis de Lajarte, a councillor in the Bordeaux Parliament, built a beautiful classic mansion on the site of the Bel-Air property. The company was bought in 1988 by Jean-Michel Cazes and his family. They restructured the vineyards and renewed winery equipment. The vineyard is 50 hectares and vines are 18 years old on average.

  • Graves, Bordeaux - France

Location of Villa Bel-AirGravel in the vineyard of Villa Bel-AirTerroir

Villa Bel-Air is close to La Brède in the village of Saint Morillon, on a magnificent gravel brow overlloking the Gatmor Valley. The soil is composed of Garonne gravels and lies on a subsoil of clay-limestone, partly ferruginous. The 50 hectare vineyard forms one block. The Cabernet Sauvignon is planted on the warm gravels of the plateau, while the merlot is planted on the cooler slopes. The vines are 18 years old on average.

Vineyard management

Permanent grass cover is a technique used in the vineyards of Villa Bel-Air. As a result, the grass absorbs water and nutrients from the top layer of the soil and forces roots to go deeper in subsoil.

Villa Bel-Air labelThroughout the year, de-budding, leaf-plucking and crop thinning are performed by the technical team to ensure perfect health and maturity of bunches. The harvested grapes are then transferred onto a modern sorting table to remove all remaining vegetal matter and then put into a vat room that contains 15 stainless steel thermo-regulated tanks.

Wine

The red Villa Bel-Air is 40% Cabernet, 50% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc. The wine spends 12 months in new oak barrels and is bottled in Spring, on the second year following harvest.

Wines available from Château Villa Bel-Air

Rouge 2006

2006 vintage was yet another classic Bordeaux vintage: the spring was warm and warm dry weather lasted until the end of July. August was cooler. Harvest was earlier than usual and started on the 18th of September 2006. The Cabernets were the last to be picked on the 5th of October, much later than the Merlot. This wine is very similar to the 2004 with riper tannins and a twist of liquorish and cedar on the finish.