Chateau Beau-Sejour Becot

Chateau Beau-Sejour Becot was once part of a much larger and grander Beausejour estate, with a long history. The origins lay in the Middle Ages when the land was owned by the monks of St Martin. During the 17^th century the monks relinquished control of the vineyards, and a lieu-dit named Peycoucou was acquired by the Geres family.

Jeanne de Geres later married to Francois de Carles de Figeac, a local nobleman, and the estate was thus came into the hands of the de Carles family. Their son General Jacques de Carles renamed the property Beausejour in 1787. Jacques died in 1803 and passed the estate to his cousin Andre de Carle-Trajet, who sold it after two decades to a local pharmacist, who passed on to Pierre-Paulin Ducarpe.

In 1869 he divided the estate between his children, half of the vineyards plus the chateau to his daughter, who through marriage take the name Duffau-Lagarrosse. His son took the remaining half, which was the current Beau-Sejour Becot. The estate changed hands in 1924, to Dr. Jean Fagouet who expanded the vineyard to 10.5 hectares.

In 1969 it was acquired by Michel Becot, thus appending his name to the chateau. The Becot family still own the domaine, but Michel has passed to his two sons Gerard and Dominique, and assisted by Gerard’s daughter Juliette. The vineyards lie to the west of St-Emilion, on the edge of St Martin de Mazerat plateau.

The soil is limestone and chalk peppered with fossilized starfish, with a topsoil of clay and limestone. The total area is 16.5 hectares, with 70% Merlot, 24% Cabernet Franc and 6% Cabernet Sauvignon, with average age in excess of 35 years. Planting density is 6200 vines per hectare, with grass planted between rows to increase competition.

Leaf-thinning is done twice a year, with a green harvest in the summer to help control yields, typically at 30-35 hl/ha. Aggressive sorting and selection of fruit is practiced at the time of picking and in chai, with the fruit fermented in temperature controlled stainless steel vats.

The wine is then bled off into oak barrels, between 80%-100% new oak in each vintage for 16-18 months. Before bottling it is neither fined nor filtered, with the grand vin Beau-Sejour Becot usually more Merlot, coupled with an infrequently produced second wine Tournelle de Beau-Sejour Becot, total production is around 5500 cases.

The estate was downgraded from Premier Grand Cru Classe in 1985 because of the expansion and acquisition of the neighboring vineyards of La Carte and Trois Moulins, which INAO regarded as incompatible terroir. But the Becot brothers worked hard and got the estate promoted back in 1996, showing the quality of the wine. The wine remained a Premier Grand Cru Classe in the 2012 classification.

I have recently tasted the 2007 vintage and below is my tasting note:

Appearance

Bright and clear, it has deep ruby color, with thin garnet rims and legs.

Nose

Clean, with medium intensity aromas showing black fruit of blackberry, plum and bilberry, oak notes of cedar, maturity notes of savory, mineral notes of earth, pungent spice of licorice. The wine is developing.

Palate

Dry with medium acidity, this wine has medium (+) tannin which is ripe but still a bit grippy. Medium in alcohol and of medium body, with medium intensity flavors of black fruit of plum, blackberry and ripe dark cherries, oak notes of cedar, herbal notes of black tea. The wine has a medium (+) finish.  

Conclusion

Good quality St-Emilion with typical ripe black fruit characters, showing good ripeness despite coming from the difficult vintage. The nose is reasonably concentrated with good complexity, while on the palate the tannin is notably high with still a tight grip. Nevertheless the flavors are of good intensity with a fairly long finish. It is ready to drink now and can benefit from further ageing of another 2-3 years.