Château Rocheyron: Vineyards
Château Rocheyron sits on the Saint-Christophe plateau, which lies to the east of the town of St Emilion on a bedrock of limestone, the renowned Calcaire à Astéries. This is a landscape of increasingly renowned names; as hinted in my introduction, Château Croix de Labrie lies immediately to the west, barely a minute’s walk away. Meanwhile, just across the road behind the vines of Château Rocheyron sits Château Laroque, the rooftops of the property’s corner pavilions poking up over the hedges. Between the two sits Clos Dubreuil, while just to the north lies Château Fombrauge. There are a myriad other petits châteaux dotted around, but these are the best-known.
The vines cover 8.45 hectares of the St Emilion appellation, and approximately three-quarters are close to the château, which is more a maison than a castle (but it has been elegantly restored – I would certainly be very happy living there). The other quarter is in the Boutisse parcel which, if my interpretation of the cadastral maps are correct, sits a little further along the road heading east. This parcel is situated just off the limestone plateau, the vines rooting into Molasses de Fronsadais soils. The vines are 85% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc, the latter in the Boutisse parcel. This parcel of Cabernet Franc is also noteworthy for the age of the vines, aged well over 80 years now, and was planted prior to the devastating frost (so cold it killed many vines) of 1956.
