Château du Champ des Treilles

Margueron sits in the old Sainte-Foy country, on clay-limestone slopes above the Dordogne with a little more altitude and freshness than the valley floor. The vines are planted densely, around ten thousand per hectare, which forces roots down and keeps yields per vine low. The whites come from a third each of Sémillon, Sauvignon Blanc and Muscadelle; the reds are led by Merlot with Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and a little Cabernet Sauvignon.

Everything is picked by hand into small crates. The whites are fermented and aged on their lees in stainless steel to keep them clean and aromatic. The reds ferment gently and age twelve to eighteen months in tank and concrete rather than new oak, so the fruit and the texture of the vineyard stay in front. The estate makes around 35,000 bottles a year.

Champ des Treilles was the laboratory. Jean-Michel Comme spent thirty-one years as technical director of Château Pontet-Canet in Pauillac, and it was on his own small estate that he tested the biodynamic farming that eventually convinced Pontet-Canet to convert, the first classed growth to do so. The Commes left the appellation system in 2020 and now sell their wines as Vin de France, a choice about freedom rather than quality.

Jean-Michel's grandparents planted vines at Sainte-Foy in the 1920s. Corinne and Jean-Michel took over the family's five hectares in 1998 on the death of his mother, went organic at once and biodynamic soon after, and doubled the vineyard to ten hectares. Jean-Michel left Pontet-Canet in 2020 to devote himself to the estate full time.

Champ des Treilles Blanc: Sémillon, Sauvignon Blanc and Muscadelle in equal parts, lees-aged in steel, floral and textured. Champ des Treilles Rouge: Merlot-led with Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, raised in concrete, supple and savoury. XXV: the estate's top red, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, made to age.