Château Le Pape: Vineyards
Château Le Pape is located in Léognan, very close to Château Le Thil Comte Clary, another vineyard-guesthouse-château hybrid which is in the possession of the Cathiards of Château Smith-Haut-Lafitte. Indeed, the Cathiard estate lies just to the east, beyond a stretch of woodland which runs to the south of Château Le Pape. To the north is Château Carbonnieux, while to the west is Château La Louvière and Château Haut-Bailly.
There are 10 hectares of land here, of which 9 hectares were planted to vines when I last visited. At the time of the Wilmers/Sanders acquisition there were just 7 hectares, but the subsequent purchase of a 2-hectare parcel expanded the vineyard to its current size. The vines are located around the château in a single block, planted on soils largely of gravel and sand over clay. Merlot dominates, accounting for 75% of the vineyards, and the remaining 25% is all Cabernet Sauvignon. These vines are aged 28 years on average, and are planted at a density of 6,900 vines per hectare.
The vineyard is managed by the same team as Château Haut-Bailly, which is led by Véronique Sanders and Gabriel Vialard. Since taking over the running of the estate they have made a lot of changes in the vineyard, mostly with regard to restructuring. The aforementioned parcel was added, but in addition two parcels were pulled up for the installation of new drainage and subsequent replanting, and in other parcels they have been busy replacing dead vines by complantation.
