Clos Fourtet, 1989 – 2020
“Thirteen hectares,” replied Matthieu Cuvelier, of Clos Fourtet.
“Thirteen hectares?!” I parroted, astonished. “That’s insane! Surely the largest in all St Emilion?”
Before you conclude that I over-reacted to Matthieu’s response to my question, and that perhaps I should just calm down a little – after all, 13 hectares isn’t an excessive size for a vineyard – I must come clean. You see, I wasn’t asking about the vineyard of Clos Fourtet; I was asking about the domaine’s ancient subterranean cellars.
Yes, Clos Fourtet has 13 hectares of cellars, all hewn by hand from the limestone bedrock many centuries ago, the stone used to build St Emilion’s churches, monasteries, convents and châteaux. To provide an appropriately clichéd analogy, the cellars could house 50 full-size tennis courts suitable for a game of doubles (well, to be honest, the precise number is 49.83, but what is 0.17 of a tennis court between friends?).
“Although we only actually make use of one hectare,” continued Matthieu Cuvelier. “The other twelve, we don’t do anything with them.”
I’m getting ahead of myself though, because of course I did not start my visit by teleporting directly into the cellars (although what a superpower that would be – I am not sure I would use it to conduct impromptu visits and interviews). I met Matthieu Cuvelier and his estate manager Emmanuel de Saint Salvy out among the vines, in the winter sunshine. Here we touched on the estate’s history (although I do not go into too much detail here, given that there is already a detailed account of the property’s origins and history in my Clos Fourtet profile), but also discussed in more detail the work they are undertaking in the vineyard and their current approach to the vinifications.
All followed by a tasting of over twenty vintages, from 1989 through to 2020.
