Château de Parenchère: Vineyards
The estate is a very peripheral one as far as Bordeaux goes, lying just on the border of the Gironde and Dordogne départements, but very close to where the former gives way to Lot et Garonne. Thus it lies much closer to the vineyards of Bergerac than it is to its grander cousins on the gravelly undulations of the Médoc. The estate is a very large one, 153 hectares all told, although only 65 hectares are planted to vines. Even though this is only a fraction of the estate, this still makes for a very sizeable vineyard. The vines are generally located on the slopes rather than the flatter land, thus enhancing exposure of the vines to the sun as well as improving drainage. The soils are predominantly clay, over a chalky bedrock.
Most of the vineyard is planted to red varieties, these being 40% Merlot, 42% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Cabernet Franc and – as can often be found in these more eastern Bordeaux vineyards – a larger-than-expected part is accounted for by Malbec, at 10%. There are just a few hectares dedicated to white varieties, these being 70% Sauvignon Blanc, 20% Semillon and again a surprisingly large proportion is dedicated to what would generally be regarded as a ‘lesser’ variety, this being Muscadelle, which accounts for the remaining 10%. Remarkably, the white vines were grafted onto established Cabernet Franc rootstocks in 2005; this has the advantage that the vines yield fruit sooner than newly planted vines, but it is time-consuming and therefore expensive, and I am surprised it was undertaken here.
