Chapelle d’Aliénor: a Bordeaux gem by La Gaffeliere

12 Aug 2021

A bargain Bordeaux, bursting with character

The Malet-Roquefort family are not short on history. A Malet fought in the Battle of Hastings, then another captained the ship that took Lafayette to America to fight in the War of Independence. Latterly (for the last three hundred years or so) the family has turned its prodigious energies to the making of fine wine, and owns several properties in and around St-Emilion. The most famous is La Gaffeliere, a star of our recent Bordeaux en primeur campaign. That's the sort of wine that normally sells out on allocation, so when a case slipped through to a public email offer, it caused a scrum (sorry about that, disappointed customers). But the same winemaking team who make La Gaffeliere so well also make the wine at another property in the family: Chapelle d'Aliénor.

Alexandre de Malet-Roquefort and his wife Aliénor spotted the potential at this estate and purchased it in 2001; since then they have been carefully replanting the vineyards and improving the cellars. The estate is in the village of Mouliets-et-Villemartin, just outside St-Emilion; the vineyards lie across a mix of gravel, limestone and clay soils. There is an old chapel amongst the vines which lends its name to the wine.

2018 Chapelle d'Aliénor enjoys all the ripe generosity of its vintage. It's a very classic right bank blend of 80% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc.The first aromatic impression is all about the Merlot: plum, cherry, confectionery. Then the Cabernet Franc comes through, bringing darker fruit and black tea notes, rather like a rich Chinon. There is a lot more complexity in this wine than you would expect at the price, but the pedigree, the winemaking and some excellent terroir all show through. /NT