Chateau Prieure-Lichine｜Margaux︳Wine Couple

Chateau Prieure-Lichine Fourth Growths Grand Cru Classe

Chateau Prieure Lichine

Fourth Growths Grand Cru Classe

What we know of as Chateau Prieure Lichine today started out as a priory for Benedictine monks. The monks produced wine for dinner and various religious ceremonies. Like many estates during the French Revolution, Prieure Lichine was seized, split up, and sold at auction.

In 1789 parts of Prieure Lichine were bought by numerous surrounding Chateaux in the Margaux appellation. Since that time, the vineyard has sold wine under several different names including La Prieure and Prieure-Cantenac.

In 1951, the noted author and wine merchant Alexis Lichine put together a group to purchase the chateau along with other vineyards in Margaux at the time, including Chateau Lascombes. By the time they arrived in the Medoc to buy Chateau Prieure, due to neglect and a lack of finances, the vineyard was down to only 11 planted hectares.

Because everything about the estate was in bad condition, Chateau Prieure-Lichine was sold for a song. Rumors are, the estate was bought for the ridiculous sum of only 8,000 British Pounds!

After the estate was purchased, it was renamed Chateau Prieure Lichine. To honor the previous name and history of the property, they retained the first part of the name, Prieure. Next, they added the last name of the new owner, and Chateau Prieure Lichine was born.

Alexis Lichine was in many ways a visionary for Bordeaux. At the time he purchased the estate, tourists were rare in Bordeaux. The neighboring chateau was not happy when Alexis Lichine placed a large, showy sign on the D2, the main highway, also known as the Route de Medoc.

The sign on the main road, informing tourists that Chateau Prieure Lichine was open for tastings, visits, and to sell wine was considered too commercial, and not in the traditions of Bordeaux. Alexis Lichine was clearly ahead of his time.

In 1953, thanks to the aid of Count Lur Saluces from Chateau d’Yquem, Chateau Prieure Lichine was able to get back on track. By the 1970s, thanks to the strategic efforts of Alexis Lichine, Prieure Lichine was able to expand to 58 hectares of vines.

Because the additional vines were purchased here and there, the vineyards are spread throughout the Margaux appellation in a myriad of different terroirs and soil types with varying levels of quality.

After Alexis Lichine’s death in 1989, Prieure Lichine was managed by his son Sacha Lichine for several years. Michel Rolland acted as the consultant until the estate was sold in 1999 to Groupe Ballande for close to 20,000,000 British pounds.

The Ballande Groupe is a successful negociant in Bordeaux. After the new owners purchased the estate, starting in 1999, they began a serious program of replanting large sections of the vineyards. Chateau Prieure Lichine brought in the team of Stephane Derenoncourt as their consulting oenologist.In October 2013, Prieure Lichine added 7.5 hectares of vines with the purchase of the little-known estate of Pontet Chappaz.In late 2013, Chateau Prieure Lichine finished a complete renovation and modernization of their cellars and winemaking facilities, giving them the ability to vinify their wine on a true parcel by parcel basis.

Stephane Derenoncourt

世上最炙手可熱的釀酒師 by Wine Spectator

This man of character, his skin tanned like leather by the great outdoors, forged ahead towards empirical learning to gain all the knowledge he now possesses. He has worked, observed, tasted and discovered vines and wines thanks to his wide-ranging experience in diverse appellations. “Terroirs” and tradition are concepts that fascinate him. He draws his inspiration from the Burgundian model of wine-making, bases his ideas on minerality and acidity to develop his own more intuitive and less systematic working methods. Wine is an encounter; it speaks of the men and women who make it.

His approach is full of common sense, with great respect for a manual profession where every detail is clearly understood and taste is used for making key decisions. He produces wines he loves to drink and share.

In 1999, Stéphane and his wife Christine purchase a property named Domaine de l’A in the Côtes de Castillon appellation. At the same time, he begins to set up “Vignerons Consultants”, a business that expands rapidly thanks to the success of the wines for which he provides his consultancy services. They are not Derenoncourt wines; each on has its own identity.

These days, Derenoncourt Consultants is primarily about team work. Young oenologists recruited freh out of university will discover vine work and develop this business in the regions of Bordeaux, the Thône, Provence, the Loire, the Lot, the South West, Languedoc, Roussillon and Burgundy, as well as in many other countries around the world, by proposing an approach to wine where every living element is taken into account and where every detail is closely linked.

Learn morn about Stephane Derenoncourt

The 77.5-hectare, Left Bank vineyard of Chateau Prieure Lichine is planted to 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 45% Merlot, and 5% Petit Verdot. This shows a decrease in the Cabernet Sauvignon, an increase in the Merlot. As you can see, their Cabernet Franc has been removed since the mid-1990s. It is the goal of the estate to increase the portion of Cabernet Sauvignon in the vineyards by at least another 10%.The terroir is gravel, sand, and clay-based soils. They have hillside elevations that range from 15 meters up to 20 meters at their peak. Their best parcels of vines are situated close to the chateau.However, the quality of the terroir varies, as the vines are well dispersed throughout the appellation. In fact, Chateau Prieure Lichine is the only estate in the Margaux appellation with vines located in all 5 communes. The large vineyard is divided into 150 separate parcels.On average, the vines are kept at about 30 years of age. The vineyard is planted to a vine density of 8,500 vines per hectare. They practice sustainable farming techniques in their vineyard management program at Prieure Lichine.

To produce the wine of Chateau Prieure Lichine, whole berry, fermentation takes place in 34 tulip-shaped, concrete tanks that range in size from 80 hectoliters up to 120 hectoliters. Each of the vats are double-skinned. This allows for a parcel by parcel vinification.

Malolactic fermentation takes place in barrels. The wine of Chateau Prieure Lichine is aged for up to 16 months in 55% to 65% new, French oak barrels before bottling.

There is a second wine, previously known as de Clairefont, which made its debut in 1972. Today, the second wine of Prieure Lichine is sold under two names, Confidences de Prieure and Le Cloitre du Chateau Prieure Lichine. On average, close to 25,000 cases of Chateau Prieure Lichine are produced each year.

Chateau Prieure-Lichine

CLASSIFIED GROWTH IN 1855 MARGAUX

Voluptuous and classic, the Grand Cru Classe of Chateau Prieure-Lichine fully expresses the fine characteristics of its terroir with the elegance, subtely and breeding of great Margaux wines.

Chateau Prieure-Lichine

Confidences de Prieure-Lichine

MARGAUX

The modernity and fruitiness of a Second Wine with a savoury and charming structure, recalling the elegance typical of Margaux. Produced from younger vines, it is harvested, vinified and aged with the same care as the Grand Cru.

Confidences de Prieure-Lichine

Le Clocher du Prieure

HAUT-MeDOC

A very pleasant expression of fresh and crunchy fruits. This small production has a cellaring potential equivalent to the second wine.

Le Blanc du Chateau Prieure-Lichine

BORDEAUX WHITE

Exclusive and confidential production used by the clergy from the end of the 17th century as communion wine. From the 1990s, the vines were replanted on new terroirs which have enriched the structure of the white wine of Chateau Prieure-Lichine, vinified and matured in the tradition of the greatest Bordeaux white wines.

Le Blanc du Chateau Prieure-Lichine

Chateau Prieure-Lichine Fourth Growths Grand Cru Classe