BORDEAUX
From this point onwards, please forget any pre-concieved ideas you may have about Bordeaux!
Henri Duporge has been in charge of the family run estate on Bordeaux’s right bank near Pomerol since 2000 but it’s a property that has a long family history of winemaking, dating back to the mid 19th century. Henri took over the day-to-day running of the 16-hectare estate from his father and set to work creating a new-styled domaine with a different approach to making wines. The first Chateau le Geai wines were released for the 2003 vintage and already Henri was shaking things up. He got French organic (Agriculture Biologique) certification in 2008, followed closely by biodynamic certification with Demeter.
The property contains familiar grape varieties we know - Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec, but also lesser used varieties like Carmenere Noire. Those vines sit on terroirs of clay, sand and what’s known as crasses ferriques, which is the local term for iron rich clay soils like those found in nearby Pomerol. Henri works the soil with shire horse but grass is always present between the rows.
In the cellar, Henri makes all wines by grape variety and parcel in a large variety of fermentation vessels, and it’s only after long periods of ageing, often up to two years, that he uses his artistic license to blend the wines into something lush. When talking with Henri about his winemaking style, he will proudly use the mysterious word glougloutage, which has nothing to do with the common term glouglou wines. It’s actually a technique that involves submerging the marc in the fermenting juice which results in the gentle bubbling sounds - glouglou. It allows for a gentle form of extraction that gives softer tannins and a smoother finish to his wines. And Henri isn’t the type of guy to be rushing things, with fermentation sometimes taking many months to complete, and even after the long ageing, he’ll only release a wine when he thinks it’s ready.
BORDEAUX
From this point onwards, please forget any pre-concieved ideas you may have about Bordeaux!
Henri Duporge has been in charge of the family run estate on Bordeaux’s right bank near Pomerol since 2000 but it’s a property that has a long family history of winemaking, dating back to the mid 19th century. Henri took over the day-to-day running of the 16-hectare estate from his father and set to work creating a new-styled domaine with a different approach to making wines. The first Chateau le Geai wines were released for the 2003 vintage and already Henri was shaking things up. He got French organic (Agriculture Biologique) certification in 2008, followed closely by biodynamic certification with Demeter.
The property contains familiar grape varieties we know - Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec, but also lesser used varieties like Carmenere Noire. Those vines sit on terroirs of clay, sand and what’s known as crasses ferriques, which is the local term for iron rich clay soils like those found in nearby Pomerol. Henri works the soil with shire horse but grass is always present between the rows.
In the cellar, Henri makes all wines by grape variety and parcel in a large variety of fermentation vessels, and it’s only after long periods of ageing, often up to two years, that he uses his artistic license to blend the wines into something lush. When talking with Henri about his winemaking style, he will proudly use the mysterious word glougloutage, which has nothing to do with the common term glouglou wines. It’s actually a technique that involves submerging the marc in the fermenting juice which results in the gentle bubbling sounds - glouglou. It allows for a gentle form of extraction that gives softer tannins and a smoother finish to his wines. And Henri isn’t the type of guy to be rushing things, with fermentation sometimes taking many months to complete, and even after the long ageing, he’ll only release a wine when he thinks it’s ready.
