Tertre Roteboeuf

An estate rising out of nowhere, it has achieved its fame very rapidly. Now owned by Francois Mitjavile, the mastermind behind the success, it was originally in the possession of his wife Miloute and her family, not of great repute, and only named as Chateau Tertre.

Located in Saint Laurent des Combes, south and east of the town of St-Emilion, the estate was passed to Miloute’s cousins with the death of her father. They also owned the nearby Bellefont-Belcier. The cousins decided to make the wines for the estate in Bellefont-Belcier, leaving the cellar and vats unused in Tertre.

Francois and Miloute were working in Paris then and their job got nothing to do with wine. In 1970s, however, Francois became bored of life in Paris, and moved to St-Emilion, the family residence, to work on the little vineyard, but they got no experience in wine.

Francois then signed up for a two-year stage at Figeac in 1975, and after that he returned to Tertre, first renaming it Tertre-Roteboeuf, referring to the lower slopes of the vineyard. The name suggested roast beef (rote boeuf) and causing some amusement, but really it refers to the burping of the oxen to pull the plough up and down the challenging, sun-baked slope.

Francois focused on the vineyard management initially, with pruning, reducing yields, waiting longer before harvest to get more ripeness. His first vintage was 1978, but without a significant improvement from the sales. However, he continued to work hard and the breakthrough came in 1985, when a French magazine organized a blind tasting of the 1982 vintage and the winner was Tertre-Roteboeuf.

With that more buyers were aware of the estate and the income helped Francois to invest in new barrels and other equipment, further fueling his success. The estate virtually came from a nobody to a superstar in 14 years.

Francois is a man who believed in classical way of managing the vineyard and cellar, and doesn’t like the more manually and technically manipulated counterparts. Focusing on the harvest, Francois looked for a balance between freshness and vibrancy, but also the beginning of the weakened skin to bring complexity. His philosophy is that the grape will start to age even before fermentation begins, and the grapes should be picked at that precise point. As a result normally the color is a bit more degraded than others, right from the outset.

Total vineyard size is 5.5 ha, occupying a slope that stretches up to the chateau, as well around the half-amphitheatre. The soil is generally drier than the others because of the slope draining the water, the south and east exposure is also comparable with Burgundy.

The vines are 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc with the ground between rows being grassed over, to compete with the vines for nutrients and water and to reduce erosion as well. The vines are trained in cordon with the fruit hanging very low over the soil, to pick up retained heat during the night.

Manually harvested, fermented in cement vats, the wine is fermented at a higher temperature than others, with remontage to improve extraction. Maceration of the fruit is longer than peers also to increase the color, richness, depth and tannic structure. Today 100% new oak is used, with the ageing lasting for around 22 months. Ultimately the wines go back to the cement vats where they are blended and fined, before bottling.

Around 2000 cases are produced annually, without any second wine. Francois also acquired an estate in Cotes de Bourg, Roc de Cambes, in 1988, of 12 ha planted with 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, with similar soils but more Atlantic climate influence.

I have tasted the 1999 vintage just now. Very good quality with a highly complex nose and good intensity, showing different layers of aromas which simply keep bursting out of the glass. Very balanced, with a robust ripeness, the wine has also a smooth and silky tannin, with an acidity level just right to provide the structure but not excessive. Having a fairly long finish, it is however, not as intense on palate as some other 'modern-style' St-Emilion, but I rather like this classic style more.

The bottle number is 7740 and the current price is HK$2300, more than double when I originally purchased a couple of years ago (at HK$1040).