Chateau Terrasson
Château Terrasson is located on the clay and limestone plateau between Côtes de Castillon and Puisseguin-St Émilion. Gerald and Alix Standley took over the property in January 2020, having cut their teeth at Le Soula in Roussillon for 10 years (Gerald) and at Château Puy Castera (Alix). Bordeaux was a natural choice for the couple to root their family and vineyard.
The 13-hectare vineyard was in a poor state when they took over, but the old vine capital was what attracted them, to make wine in their own way. From the beginning they moved to organic viticulture with applied biodynamics. They uprooted about a third of the vines to make way for a new co-planted white grape vineyard. The varieties currently found on the property consist of 80% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Cabernet Franc, with one hectare of Semillon that they farm from their neighbour Château Puygueraud.
The buildings also needed a lot of work at first; soon they were filled with a variety of vessels to explore all the possibilities of making wine, with stainless-steel, concrete tank, amphorae, barrels, foudres and qvevris.
Gerald and Alix want to make wines with minimal intervention, using natural yeasts and long fermentations. Their aim is to bring back the old style of Bordeaux using whole bunch fermentation and fresher expressions of this great terroir. 2020 is their very first vintage, and I am sure we will hear a lot more about them in the coming years.
The range consists of a full and fresh white made entirely from Semillon, an orange wine also from Semillon, and the Château Terrasson Castillon Côtes de Bordeaux which is a blend of 80% Merlot, 15% Cabernet sauvignon and 5% Cabernet Franc - we chose to import this first.
We couldn’t be happier to start our Bordeaux chapter with such dedicated people with their exceptional philosophy.
The Wines
The second vintage from Gerald and Alix is a true vigneron’s vintage and one they can be justifiably proud of. A cold and wet growing season presented significant challenges in the vineyard, yet through careful management and meticulous fruit selection they achieved excellent balance and ripeness in this Merlot-dominant blend of 80% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Cabernet Franc.
The resulting wine is pure, lithe and beautifully lifted, showcasing the freshness of the vintage. Ageing for 20 months in a thoughtful combination of large foudres and stainless steel preserves the clarity of fruit and the vintage natural vibrancy.
While this is a lighter, more refined expression of Bordeaux, it shows both the vintage and the producers’ sensitive approach in the cellar. Rather than pursuing the heavily oaked and overly concentrated styles that have often dominated the region, the 2021 instead delivers finesse, balance and genuine drinking pleasure.