Château La Fleur de Gay: Vineyards
The three plots of vines that contribute to Château La Fleur de Gay are located on the plateau, as indicated in my introduction, and they were chosen by Noël Raynaud who felt that the three wines could work together, with synergy, in a new cuvée. The smallest is La Fleur, located between Château Lafleur and Petrus and qualitatively at least is perhaps the most significant, being located on the ‘buttonhole’ of blue clay which dates to the Tertiary, perhaps just 6 million years ago, and which today has been made famous by Petrus. There are perhaps only 20 hectares of the appellation which has this sort of terroir, so even a small slice of it should be treasured. This parcel is planted entirely with Merlot.
The second plot is Gay, which is found on the more gravelly soils close to Château Le Gay. Here there is a deep covering of Günzian gravel dating to the Quaternary, having been laid down between 1.1 and 1.3 million years ago. You have to dig down more than 6 metres to find the clay that lies beneath. Again, this section is planted entirely with Merlot. The third parcel, known as Groupey, is located very close to the vineyard of Château Trotanoy, with a slightly less deep covering of Günzian gravel, with a depth of 2.4 metres, over clay. Here the Lebreton family have Cabernet Franc planted.
