Portraits of winemakers

CHÂTEAU MAUVINON: A SAINT-EMILION GRAND CRU OF ELEGANCE AND FINESSE

Château Mauvinon: A Legacy of Passion and Excellence

A Family Passion

Since 1962, Château Mauvinon has been in the hands of the Tribaudeau family. Claude Tribaudeau, a wine enthusiast, acquired this beautiful 6.5-hectare vineyard in Saint-Sulpice-de-Faleyrens, one of the eight villages that make up the Jurisdiction of Saint-Emilion, governed by the Jurade since the Middle Ages. Initially, all the wine produced was delivered to the Saint-Emilion cooperative winery. In the late 1980s, Claude’s son Philippe and his wife Brigitte took over, deciding to develop direct sales at the estate.

To achieve this, they built a vinification cellar and invested in modern equipment, including stainless steel vinification tanks. Alongside their children, these two wine lovers, who transitioned into winemaking later in life, released their first vintage in 1990. “Before taking over Château Mauvinon, Philippe was a lawyer, and I worked in molecular biology, which gave me a broad perspective on viticulture,” explains Brigitte Tribaudeau. “I then did an internship in vinification at an agricultural school and surrounded myself with specialists: an oenologist, a phytosanitary advisor, and a biodynamics consultant,” she continues. Following her husband’s death in 2013, Brigitte took on the management of the estate by herself, dedicating herself completely to the task. Respectful of the environment, she initiated the conversion to organic farming in 2017 while already practicing biodynamics with the help of her consultant. She also invested in advanced equipment, such as a new tubular heat exchanger to cool the harvest and perform pre-fermentation vinifications at cold temperatures. Additionally, she developed the estate’s wine tourism by offering visitors a personalized experience, including a tour of the vineyard and cellar to explain the winemaking process, followed by a tasting of two cuvées.

Brigitte’s long-term project is to build a beautiful tasting room to accommodate more visitors.

Elegant and Balanced Wines

In the meantime, Brigitte puts all her efforts into producing high-quality wines. On her beautiful terroirs composed of gravelly sands, she produces two cuvées under the AOC Saint-Emilion Grand Cru: Château Mauvinon and Gabriel Lauzat. The style of her wines? Refined and balanced cuvées with lovely fruit flavors not overshadowed by excessive oak, silky tannins, and a long finish. “Oak is like makeup on a beautiful woman—it enhances her beauty without hiding it. Therefore, the oak must be well-integrated to highlight the fruit’s crispness,” Brigitte explains. This is evident in the 2009 Gabriel Lauzat cuvée, which pays tribute to Philippe’s great-grandfather, a true pioneer as one of the first to plant vines in Algeria. This limited production of 2,000 bottles comes from a few well-protected rows of vines harvested at night by headlamp to avoid fruit oxidation. This cuvée is entirely vinified in new 500-liter barrels to integrate a lovely oak character. It charms with its red fruit aromas, spicy and woody palate, which pairs perfectly with a beef roast in a crust accompanied by some mushrooms.

The Château Mauvinon 2014 is an elegant cuvée with hints of morello cherry, licorice, and rich, melted tannins that pair beautifully with stuffed guinea fowl fillets with mushrooms or Brie de Meaux. The Château Mauvinon 2015, an excellent vintage in the Bordeaux region, boasts a complex and distinctive palate with firm yet silky tannins, making it a wine for aging. It pairs well with grilled ribeye or farm-produced Ossau-Iraty cheese.

If you find yourself near Saint-Emilion, now you know where to stop!