Six from Château Grâce Dieu des Prieurs, 2021
At the side of the road which runs between the town of St Emilion and the village of Pomerol sits Château Grâce Dieu des Prieurs. It is difficult to overlook it; even if your eye is not drawn to the perfect proportions of the pristinely restored and presented château, you surely cannot miss the giant cellars which sit behind it and alongside it, towering above the vineyards beyond.
Until recently I have had many opportunities to admire the property in passing, en route to an appointment further up the road (in one direction or the other), but opportunities to taste the wines of this estate never presented themselves. That changed during the course of 2020 and 2021 though; an encounter with the 2019 barrel sample during last year’s primeur tastings suggested there was something worth investigating here. A fresh delivery of samples from other recent vintages, both white and red, would seem to suggest that first impression was correct.
Before coming to the wines, first a potted history (I will keep it brief, I promise!) of the château. As is perhaps suggested by the name, which harks back to the ecclesiastical origins of St Emilion, Château Grâce Dieu des Prieurs is a long-established estate. The vineyards are located on the more sandy soils to the northwest of the town, a part of the appellation where it takes greater effort to produce wines of real distinction. It can be done though; other estates located nearby, such as Château Rol Valentin, have certainly achieved it.
For Château Grâce Dieu des Prieurs that effort really began in 2013, when the property was acquired by Russian philanthropist Andreï Filatov. His investment, and his work with the Art Russe foundation, explains the no-expense-spared revitalisation of the château and the renovation of the cylindrical cellars behind, complete with giant mural. The revival of the estate was supervised by director Laurent Prosperi, and significantly Louis Mitjavile was drafted in as a consultant. The first vintage fully under the control of the new team was 2014; released in distinctive squat bottles, each vintage is adorned with a different piece from prominent Russian artists, such as Alexander Gerasimov (1881 – 1963) whose work Still Life with Roses was selected for the 2016 vintage (pictured).
