Château Clarke: Vineyards
Château Clarke sits between the settlements of Listrac-Médoc and Moulis-en-Médoc, in fact a little closer to the latter than the former. Just to the west is Château Lestage, once in the same ownership, today a highly ranked property in the Listrac-Médoc appellation. And to the east sits Château Anthonic, another well-known Listrac-Médoc estate.
The vineyard extends across 55 hectares, of which 52 hectares are planted to red varieties, among which Merlot dominates. The push for more Merlot was driven by a soil study carried out by Edmond de Rothschild after his acquisition of the estate. Cabernet Sauvignon is not really suited to these cool clay soils, yet it dominated the vineyard, although not for long. It was largely pulled up, and today the vines are 70% Merlot and 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, the oldest vines dating to the replanting in 1974. The vineyard is planted at a density of 7,000 pieds per hectare, on slopes rising to an altitude of 35 metres above sea level. What Cabernet Sauvignon remains is largely in the old Peyre-Lebade vineyard, which Edmond purchased in 1979, where the soils are characterised by limestone or sand, rather than clay.
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