Château Le Boscq: Vineyards
As indicated in my profile this property is located close to the village of St-Corbian, in the modern-day appellation of St Estèphe. It enjoys a commanding position overlooking the palus and estuary. Located on the same gravel mound as the village, it is flanked by marshland and the Estey d’Un to the north, and by another drainage channel, the Chenal de Calon, to the south. East of this gravel mound, which derives from Terrace 3, is marsh and the waters of the Gironde. To the west, more marshland; before the Médoc was drained this gravel hill would have been an island, surrounded by lagoons and marsh.
Sitting on the mound, Château Le Boscq’s nearest neighbour is Château Beau-Site, but it is worth looking further north and south to fully understand the estate’s favoured position. Just on the other side of the Chenal de Calon, to the south is Château Calon-Ségur and its vines, also situated on a broad moud of gravel from Terrace 3. While beyond the Estey d’Un to the north the land has the Haut-Médoc appellation; here we find vines belonging to Château Sociando-Mallet, among others, again with small areas of desirable Terrace 3 gravel.
The restructuring carried out since 1995 has produced a vineyard of which now totals 20 hectares, planted at a fairly high density, typically 9,250 vines per hectare. The vines no longer run all the way down the palus, of course, and are focused on the gravel and clay slope that runs up behind the château on the Terrace 3 gravels, rising to a maximum elevation of 18 metres above sea level. The work in the vineyard is manual and focused on sustainability, and across the Dourthe vineyards chemical fertilisers, herbicides and pesticides are interdit. The estate adhered to Terra Vitis methods for many years, although beyond that there was no formal organic certification. This has now changed, however, with the work in vineyard and cellars sufficient for the wine to have organic certification, from Ecocert, in the 2025 vintage onwards.
