Château Haut-Bages-Libéral: Vineyards
Although the name of Château Haut-Bages-Libéral stems in part from the name of the originators, the Libéral family, the rest relates to the position of a large slice of the property on the edge of the Bages plateau, which lies between the Chenal du Gaet to the north, and the Ruisseau de Juillac to the south. Just a short walk through the vineyards to the south of Pauillac is the village of Bages itself, situated on a gravelly rise which, although not of great altitude, in this coastal landscape of gently rolling gravel mounds it affords as good a view over the Gironde as you are likely to find. Closely dotted around there are numerous châteaux and vineyards that clearly declare this rare vantage point as their home; Château Lynch-Bages, Château Croizet-Bages, Château Cordeillan-Bages (complete with its rather swish hotel), Château Haut-Bages-Averous and, of course, the most southerly of all these estates, Château Haut-Bages-Libéral.
The vineyards are in three main plots, amounting to 30 hectares all told. As I indicated in my introduction, the first (and largest) lies around the chai, to the north of the vineyards of Château Latour, with only a country lane defining where first growth ends and fifth growth begins. Another plot lies close by, slightly further south, just adjacent to Château Pichon-Lalande. Both of these vineyards are just a stone’s throw from the banks of the Gironde, and are blessed with deep gravels. The third plot, however, lies further inland on the Bages plateau, adjacent to Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste; there is more clay and limestone than gravel in this plot.
