Château Montlabert: Vineyards
Château Montlabert sits next to the road running between the St Emilion and Pomerol appellations. The elegant and expansive château is set well back from the road, the buildings, circular pool and formal gardens obscured from view by a collection of ornamental trees. It sits right on the Ruisseau du Taillas, the stream which bisects the vineyards here and which eventually turns south to run through the outskirts of Libourne before it meets the Dordogne.
Montlabert’s closest neighbours are not particularly renowned; situated just on the opposite bank of the stream is Château Vieux Fortin, while dotted around the property to the west, south and east are Château l’Etampe, Château Pas de l’Âne and Château Franc Grâce-Dieu. Look beyond these, however, and there is more interest. Directly west, also teetering on the edge of the Ruisseau du Taillas, is Château Figeac, while just to the north is Château Ripeau, and to the south Château Yon Figeac. There are classified châteaux everywhere you look.
The vineyard accounts for a little less than 21 hectares of the appellation, although these are not all located in the original Montlabert vineyard. Here there are 12.5 hectares, divided into 19 parcels, and of these 9 hectares are classified, these being the source of the grand vin. The soils are principally comprised of superficial sand and gravel, as you would expect with a vineyard in this locale, with deeper veins of blue clay, and even deeper Molasses de Fronsadais and Calcaire à Astéries.
