Château Petit Faurie de Soutard: Vineyards
The vineyards of Château Petit Faurie de Soutard are located on the northern edge of the plateau, and the northern slopes, just to the northeast of the town of St Emilion. As I have indicated in my introduction, it sits very close to Château Soutard, which lies just to the west, and Château Faure de Souchard, which is just to the north. Château Balestard la Tonnelle, the proprietors of which are the Capdemourlin family, proprietors of Château Petit Faurie de Soutard for many recent years, is located to the south, just on the other side of the road.
There are 8 hectares of vines all told, on a slope running down from the château and cellars in the direction of Château Faurie de Souchard, Château Dassault and Clos de l’Oratoire. At the top of the slope the soils are naturally richer in clay and limestone while lower down, moving off the exalted St Emilion plateau, they have a more sandy profile.
The vines are 65% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Franc and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon, and they have an average age of 30 years. They are pruned in the traditional Guyot Double manner. The approach to work in the vineyard is described as viticulture raisonnée, which essentially means it is conventional albeit with minimal use of chemicals, rather than organic or biodynamic.
