Chateau Beau-Sejour Petit Becot Saint-Emilion 2019

Located immediately west of the magical town of Saint-Émilion on the Saint-Martin de Mazerat limestone plateau, Beau-Séjour Bécot is in the heart of the appellation. The estate has been devoted to winemaking since the Gallo-Roman period. In 1787, General Jacques de Carles, wishing to commemorate for all time the pleasure that he enjoyed staying there, named the estate “Beau-Séjour” (meaning “lovely stay”).

In 1969, Michel Bécot acquired the château and brought the area under vine up to 18.50 hectares thanks to the purchase of neighboring vineyard plots with the same terroir. He also turned seven hectares of former underground limestone quarries into a storage cellar where tens of thousands of bottles age under ideal conditions. His work in improving and embellishing the estate went on until his retirement in 1985.

His two sons, Gérard and Dominique, have followed in their father's footsteps while introducing numerous technical innovations to both the cellars and the vineyard. Only the ripest, healthiest grapes are now harvested, and then sorted one by one. Gérard's daughter, Juliette, started working at the château in 2001 in order to market wines from the family estate.

A brilliant wine from this estate: Fresh blueberries and black cherries on the nose with pencil lead and liquorice. Tangy and so alive on the palate, crystalline and pure, really clean and clear. The limestone comes through strongly in the wet stone aspects. This has a touch of tension, with mouthwatering acidity, as well as some subtle fleshiness that really expands towards the finish, where the wine settles and grows. Great juiciness, almost salty strawberry with cranberry and raspberry that really lingers.