Chateau Monbousquet

Dated back to 1540, the property was belonged to Francois de Lescours. Then owned by Henri de Geres from 1682, and inherited by Jean de Geres in 1750, Chateau Moubousquet was later succeeded by Jean-Jacques de Geres, and subsequently by his daughter Jeanne, who wed Francois de Carles.

In 1779 General de Carles built the main residence, and he later married Marie-Rosalie Vacher, who ceded the estate to her sister-in-law Marie Gabrielle Desaigues. Purchased in 1835 by Pierre Saujon, it was then sold to the Lascombe family in 1855.

Under Comte de Vassal-Montviel, who expanded the vineyard to the current size, in 1877 the estate was sold to Bellanger, but the quality started to deteriorate. Starting from 1945 Daniel Querre rebuilt the estate, continued by his heirs till 1992. But it was Chantal and Gerard Perse who purchased the estate in 1993. They also owned Pavie and Pavie Decesse.

A lot of new investment was made by the Perse family and they also planted white vines. With the improvement in quality, the estate obtained the GCC status in 2006. Located about 500 yards from the south hill of St-Emilion, it has 33 ha of vineyard.  The old vathouse was demolished and built anew, along with a new barrel cellar.

Consulted by Michel Rolland, this estate is sitting on a vein of gravelly soil among the flat sands, with the deep gravel to the south and sandy-clay to the north. A blend of 60% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Franc and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, there is a second wine called Angelique de Monbousquet.

I have recently tasted the 2002 vintage, and below is my tasting note:

Good quality St-Emilion with medium ruby color, the wine has reasonably intense, developing nose of fairly good complexity, showing aromas of blackberry and blackcurrant, plum, liquorice, earth, cocoa, toast, forest floor and soy sauce. Fairly high on acidity, the tannin is a bit dusty with grippy texture. A fairly full-bodied wine, it has reasonable concentration on the palate, showing flavors of blackberry and blackcurrant, cloves, meaty and cocoa. It has a fairly long finish and of good balance. Ready to drink now, it can benefit from further ageing of another 2-3 years.