Domaine du Bel Air: Vineyards
The domaine is located just on the outskirts of Benais, on the northwestern side, in an emerald-green viticultural landscape. There is a large chai here; I have to admit I walked past it several times before realising these were the Gauthier cellars, as in my search I had been distracted by the house opposite, where the Gauthier family reside.
Pierre and Rodolphe have approximately 20 hectares of vines. Pierre believes this is the maximum they can manage while continuing to give the wines the attention they deserve, his self-stated philosophy being to look after his vines “as if they were a garden”. Of these parcels, many are blended together to produce the domaine cuvée, but a handful are vinified apart. These include parcels of vines in noteworthy lieux-dits including Les Marsaules, where the Gauthiers have 3 hectares, and in Le Grand Mont, where they have 1.3 hectares. And, of course, there is the Clos Nouveau.
The Clos Nouveau, as already noted in my history of the estate, originated with the nearby Château de Benais, the two separated at the time of the French Revolution. There have been very few owners since than. By the 1980s it was in the possession of Jacques Morin, a respected local vigneron based at Vau Godard, which is to the west of Benais. He owned not only the Clos Nouveau, but also the Clos de la Henry, which was the vineyard once associated with Château de Restigné, in the village just downslope from Benais.
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