Château Jean Faure: Vineyards
Château Jean Faure sits at the extreme western end of the St Emilion appellation, lined up at the very boundary with Pomerol, alongside Château Cheval Blanc and then Château La Dominique which sit directly west of the estate. Just to the north, on the opposite side of the boundary, there are located Château La Conseillante and Château L’Évangile. Meanwhile, wrapped around the Jean Faure vineyards are many of the other estates once associated with the Corbin seigneurie or onetime proprietors of the property; these include Château Corbin Michotte, Château Grand Corbin, Château Grand Corbin-Despagne, Château Corbin and Château Ripeau, the latter directly to the east. To the south there runs the Ruisseau du Taillas, which flows westwards through Pomerol.
The vineyards, like those of Château Cheval Blanc and then Château La Dominique, run in a north-south strip, a streamlined phalanx of vines running all the way to Château Corbin Michotte, broader where they sit between Château Cheval Blanc and Château Ripeau. The altitude of the land does not vary much here, being generally between 36 and 41 metres above sea level. There are 18 hectares of vines altogether. Underfoot, parts of the vineyard are on soils comprising sandy clay with gravel, the same soils that also run under part of Château La Dominique. The vines in the northern strip, all Merlot, and in the south-west corner, are located on these soils. Beneath the rest of the vineyard there is mostly a feldspar sand, with deposits of gravel, galets and crasse de fer, along with a sandy green clay, all dating to the Lower Oligocene. The clay components in both parts tend to protect the vines from hydric stress, despite the superficial sandy soils.
