Targon · Entre-Deux-Mers and Côtes de Bordeaux
Where limestone, gravel and a little rule-breaking meet
At Château Sainte-Marie, tradition comes with a distinctly independent streak.
From vineyards near Targon, at around 122 metres and close to the highest point of the Gironde, the Dupuch family works across two contrasting hills: limestone for the whites and gravel for the reds. Some of the oldest Merlot and Sémillon vines were planted in 1921 and 1923, while elsewhere Stéphane Dupuch is experimenting with grapes his predecessors would scarcely have contemplated.
“We have some forbidden grapes,” he explains. “You will have a Chenin from Bordeaux at the tasting.”
It is a comment that encapsulates the work at Sainte-Marie rather well. Whether Stéphane is planting Chenin and Syrah, introducing Colombard, serving reds chilled or making zero-dosage Crémant, there is a reason behind the decision. And, increasingly, that reason is climate.
The Dupuch family’s connection with Château Sainte-Marie stretches back for the better part of a century. But the property’s history reaches considerably further.
Sainte-Marie appears in the 1874 Féret guide, when it was recorded as producing both red and white wine. The land had previously been worked by monks from La Sauve Majeure Abbey, four kilometres away, and reminders of its religious past remain throughout the property. Statues of the Virgin Mary can still be found around the estate and in the cellar, while the last mass was held here as recently as May 1997. The property also once served as a stopping point for pilgrims travelling to Santiago de Compostela.
That history remains explicitly tangible in the winery. The monks’ old concrete cellar is still in use, not simply preserved as a curiosity, but rather used for ageing white wines on their lees.
The family story, however, is more recent.
Gilles Dupuch trained under his uncle Edouard Mondon before taking responsibility for the estate in 1982, raising its focus on quality and later becoming President of the Entre-Deux-Mers appellation. Stéphane, Gilles’s youngest son, took over in 1997, with his wife Laurence having joined the business a year prior.
Today, Stéphane and Laurence run Château Sainte-Marie together, with Laurence overseeing administration, finance and the commercial side of the business, while under Stéphane the vineyard has grown from 27 hectares to around 50, producing approximately 400,000 bottles a year.
The contrast within Sainte-Marie’s vineyards is central to the wines.
The white vineyards are particularly associated with limestone, including Calcaires à Astéries – fossil-rich limestone containing the remains of ancient starfish. It forms part of the same geological bedrock that continues towards Saint-Émilion and Loupiac. Elsewhere in the vineyards, clay-limestone and clayey gravel bring further variation.
Individual parcels have their own identities.
Alios comprises 14 hectares of clayey gravel around eight kilometres from the main property, while the 25-hectare Vieilles Vignes site lies on clay-limestone and includes century-old vines. Marcon, at La Sauve, sits on limestone where the asteria fossils can be seen, while the Moulin parcel at Croignon returns to clayey gravel.
Among the oldest surviving vines are Merlot planted in 1921 and Sémillon planted in 1923 by Stéphane’s great-uncle. Here, “old vines” really does mean old: vines planted more than a century ago remain part of a working vineyard that is also being adapted for a changing climate.
Sainte-Marie’s white wines are made with close attention to the individual vineyard parcels.
Harvesting begins at night, from around 4am, bringing the grapes in while temperatures are lower. Depending on the parcel and vintage, the fruit receives between six and twelve hours of skin contact. Fermentation uses indigenous yeasts, and malolactic fermentation is generally avoided during the process. Stéphane experimented with malolactic fermentation once in 2007, but chose not to make it part of his usual approach.
The wines are vinified plot by plot and spend four to six months on their lees, using stainless steel, as well as the old concrete cellar inherited from the property’s monastic past.
A particularly interesting example is Chardonneret, the family’s small-production AOC Bordeaux Blanc from Château Peyredon-Lagravette. A single-parcel co-planting of Sauvignon Blanc, Sauvignon Gris and Sémillon, it is fermented in 400-litre French oak before spending six months in amphora. Chardonneret means goldfinch in French – which also happens to be the bird pictured on the label.
Perhaps the clearest expression of Stéphane’s willingness to challenge convention lies in two varieties planted in 2011: Chenin Blanc and Syrah.
Both sit outside the traditional appellation framework here and are therefore bottled as Vin de France under the Astérie name, itself a reference to the fossil-starfish limestone beneath the vineyards.
The Chenin is fermented and matured in used 400-litre oak and handled reductively. Its role can even change with the vintage. For example, in cooler years, it can be used to make sparkling wine.
The Syrah, first released with the 2016 vintage and produced in quantities of around 6,000 bottles per vintage, receives around five weeks of infusion maceration without pigeage, with 5–10% of the stems added back.
Stéphane even decided to serve it chilled.
“If you asked my father, he would be shocked – because I’m putting the reds in the fridge.”
Behind the experimentation is a serious question: what should an estate plant today if it wants to make balanced wines tomorrow?
Stéphane has watched Sauvignon Gris reach 12.5–13% potential alcohol while losing the acidity he wants, while Sauvignon Blanc presents its own challenges for ageing. His response has been to look beyond the obvious alternatives.
Colombard is one answer. Sainte-Marie is working with a small-bunch massale selection that ripens later, reaching approximately 11.5–12% potential alcohol. It can form up to 15% of an Entre-Deux-Mers blend, helping Stéphane retain the freshness he is seeking as growing seasons continue to become warmer and start earlier.
Chenin and Syrah are part of the same thinking. They are not curiosities planted simply to make the range more unusual; Stéphane introduced them in response to changes he could already see happening in the vineyard in 2011.
This season brought the point more sharply into focus. By the end of June, ripening was running around three weeks ahead, with harvest expected to begin in the first week of August.
“The old winemakers used to say the month of August makes the must,” Stéphane observed. “But this year it would be July, not August.”
Château Sainte-Marie’s history could easily encourage a more traditional approach. There are century-old vines, monastic cellars and generations of family experience. Yet Stéphane is equally interested in what those vineyards will need in the years ahead.
Sémillon planted in 1923 now grows alongside Chenin planted in 2011. White wine still ages in the monks’ concrete cellar, while their Chardonneret spends six months in amphora. Traditional Bordeaux varieties share the range with Syrah – sometimes served straight from the fridge.
There is plenty of experimentation here, but little sense of doing something different simply for attention. Stéphane’s decisions keep coming back to the vineyard: what grows well, what retains freshness and what will continue to work as the climate changes.
At Château Sainte-Marie, respecting tradition does not mean standing still.
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