Château Barde-Haut: Vineyards
Château Barde-Haut is located about a kilometre east of the town of St Emilion, in the eastern section of the St Emilion appellation, in the commune of St-Christophe-des-Bardes. Near neighbours include La Mondotte and Château Troplong-Mondot to the south-west as well as a host of other domaines, although these first two are perhaps the most famous among them. Continue along the road heading east and you will soon come to Château Laroque, Château Rocheyron, Clos Dubreuil and Château Croix de Labrie, all names once easily overlooked but today all making waves in Bordeaux. This is an increasingly prestigious and valuable corner of the Bordeaux vineyard.
The château sits in a small dip as viewed from the road, although it actually enjoys a beneficial position at the top of a slope of vines forming a natural south-facing amphitheatre, enviable topography for a vineyard such as this. The aforementioned Château La Barde lies slightly lower down the slope.
The estate accounts for 17 hectares of the St Emilion appellation, of which the entirety is planted to vines. In the St Emilion classification it is not the property that is classified but the vineyard, and it is not always the case that the entire vineyard makes the grade. This leaves some estates making a classified grand vin, and an unclassified second wine (which may of course take downgraded fruit from the classified vines), but here at Barde-Haut the entirety of the vineyard is classified. For this reason Hélène and Patrice no longer make a second wine; rather like François Mitjavile’s approach at Tertre-Roteboeuf (although, to be clear, François has no interest in official classifications), Hélène and Patrice bottle everything they harvest from the classified vineyards as the grand vin, which thus represents the cru with nothing added, and nothing taken away.
