TERTRE ROTEBOEUF, ROC DE CAMBES, DOMAINE DE CAMBES & L’AURAGE – 2023 VINTAGE EN PRIMEUR

TERTRE ROTEBOEUF, ROC DE CAMBES, DOMAINE DE CAMBES & L’AURAGE

2023 VINTAGE, EN PRIMEUR

EXCLUSIVE TO CORNEY & BARROW IN THE UK, HONG KONG AND SINGAPORE

“Fleshy wines, with a certain fatness in the heart of the vigour”.

FRANÇOIS MITJAVILE, APRIL 2024

THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS

Entering François Mitjavile’s 18th century home feels like crossing the threshold into a place where time slows. The camera shifts to wide angle, pulling focus from the nitty-gritty to the sweepingly elemental.

Maybe it’s the furniture, none of which is from this century, or perhaps from the last either. Or the vistas of Saint-Émilion and beyond, stretching to the horizon. The same is true of the cellar, hermetically sealed against the bustle of Bordeaux.

It is also true of the wines. Like dogs and owners, wines and vignerons can resemble each other. These wines somehow transcend vintages – recognisably Mitjavile without fail, whilst not always hitting the ephemeral buzzwords of the year. Usually for the better.

We spent a few hours with François and Louis last month, in the cellar at Tertre Roteboeuf and then at the lunch table, discussing the year and its offerings, and generally setting the world to rights. François spoke of a “vigorous” season, which resulted in wines of “strength, deftness, voluptuousness and power.”

Louis invoked a “rich, deep, opulent” vintage, without fruity “solar” character. Since Louis’ first vintage in 2007, he has replanted 60% of L’Aurage. It is now finally 100% Merlot (as of the 2024 vintage), which he feels best suits its cool clay-limestone terroir. Watch our video interviews here.

We are excited to open this year’s ‘family’ releases with these wonderful, quirky, timeless wines. It is not too much of an exaggeration to say that they are woven into the fabric of C&B.

We thank François for his efforts on pricing this year. Where demand exceeds supply, we will allocate based on overall support for the four wines.

GUY SEDDON Head of Fine Wine Buying, May 2024

THE 2023 VINTAGE IN THE WORDS OF FRANÇOIS MITJAVILE

2023 “ultimately produced fruit that was more supple and deeper than in 2022.”

FRANÇOIS

MITJAVILE APRIL 2024

What can we say about this vintage? We have had two very good years in a row, 2022 and 2023.

2022 was extreme: very hot, very sunny, very dry! In fact, the ripening took place in difficult conditions, more slowly than expected. The maturity was less “pushed” than we might have thought, which explains the grace, the “liveliness” of this vintage. A dense year of course, but charming, with great palatability and aromatic dynamics.

In 2023, the flavours are also contrary to what one might expect: ripe, also dense, but fleshier, accomplished, evolving. The year – warm, with light rains spread out well during ripening – ultimately produced fruit that was more supple and deeper than in 2022.

Attention! This is not about comparing the diverse flavours of these two beautiful years! I’m just trying to define their character.

One last point: while the yield in 2022 was very low, fortunately, this year we are returning to satisfactory quantities. Click here to watch François Mitjavile talk at Tertre Roteboeuf about the 2023 vintage.

Louis Mitjavile

THE WINES

These three estates, one in prime Saint-Émilion, the others on the banks of the Dordogne, are united by a common approach, a quest for ultimate fruit expression. The consequent ‘degraded’ fruit and sensual, melded structures, have become a Mitjavile hallmark. All wines are aged in 100% new oak, from the Radoux cooperage.

TERTRE ROTEBOEUF, SAINT-ÉMILION GRAND CRU

Tertre Roteboeuf is best viewed from the wall at the bottom of François Mitjavile’s garden, from where it stretches away below you. This sweeping six-hectare amphitheatre sits on clay-limestone soils. The limestone, visible in the underground cellars’ walls, is one of the keys to Tertre Roteboeuf.

François’ trademark late picking finds a counterbalance in the naturally cool soil. This safeguards the wines’ characteristic freshness alongside the so-called ‘degraded’ fruit profile which François seeks. The blend reflects the vineyard plantings of 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc. The average vine age is over 40 years.

2023 TASTING NOTE:

80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc. Spicy and exotic aromas of deep, dark berry fruit and violets, with tobacco leaf and dried herbs. The palate is sweetly fruited and supple, voluptuous even. This is a rich, deep, extrovert Tertre Roteboeuf, which revels in that hallmark Mitjavile degraded blackberry and blueberry fruit. Coffee beans and bitter chocolate linger on the finish. This was picked a little later than sister property Roc de Cambes, at the beginning of October.

Corney & Barrow Score 18+

Recommended drinking from 2030 - 2045

£770/case of 6 bottles, in bond UK

£780/case of 3 magnums, in bond UK

£560/case of 1 double magnum, in bond UK

ROC DE CAMBES, CÔTES DE BOURG

The Côtes de Bourg appellation is some 45 minutes north-west of Saint-Émilion, on the banks of the Dordogne, where it meets the Garonne and combines into the Gironde estuary. As Antonio Galloni has written, “Quite frankly, Roc de Cambes takes the Côtes de Bourg to a whole new level.”

The property is over twice the size of Tertre Roteboeuf, comprising 14 hectares, with a similar average vine age (40+ years). Roc de Cambes lies on the ‘Les Croutes’ slope, where the heat of the sun is tempered by the river. Cool clay-limestone soils take time to warm up in the spring so that late ripening is the norm.

2023 TASTING NOTE:

80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon. Dark-berried aromas of plum and bitter cherry, with liquorice, blue flowers and exotic spices. The palate is lush and fresh, the sweet, decadent blackberry fruit framed by supple tannins, with a sustained freshness to the long finish. Picked over a few days at the end of September.

Corney & Barrow Score 17.5 - 18

Recommended drinking from 2028 - 2040

£260/case of 6 bottles, in bond UK

£270/case of 3 magnums, in bond UK

£225/case of 1 double magnum, in bond UK

DOMAINE DE CAMBES, BORDEAUX AOC

Domaine de Cambes is made from the lower slopes of the Roc de Cambes vineyard, which border the Gironde estuary, as depicted in its label, pictured here. The influence of the river is key here: its mists temper the climate and there is a greater proportion of silt in the soil.

In the 17th-18th centuries, the Dutch, who famously drained the swampy Médoc, enabled the protection of these slopes from the encroaching tides. The plantings are approximately 80% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc and 5% Malbec. As François says, with vines of 40+ years of age, an exact percentage is not easy.

2023 TASTING NOTE:

80% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc and 5% Malbec. Domaine de Cambes 2023 is brightly, joyfully red-berried, with plum, raisin, and sweet spice aromas. The palate offers supple and melded raspberry fruit, the tannins displaying no rough edges whatsoever. A fabulous earlier drinker made in the image of Roc de Cambes.

Corney & Barrow Score 17 - 17.5

Recommended drinking from 2026 - 2036

£185/case of 6 bottles, in bond UK

£195/case of 3 magnums, in bond UK

L’AURAGE, CASTILLON-CÔTES DE BORDEAUX

Castillon-la-Bataille sits on the banks of the Dordogne river, around 12 kilometres to the south-east of SaintÉmilion. The ‘battle’ in the town’s name commemorates a resounding victory against the English in 1453, which brought to an end the Hundred Years War.

Louis ‘Loulou’ Mitjavile started making wine at Tertre Roteboeuf and Roc de Cambes. He and his wife Caroline purchased L’Aurage in 2007. The vines here run right up to the Saint-Émilion boundary. As of 2024, Merlot accounts for the entirety of the 15 hectares (there is still 3% Cabernet Franc in the 2023 blend).

L’Aurage has the coolest terroir of the four family wines. Its rows are west and east facing, without full south exposure, and the clay-limestone soils are cool. Alongside the new barrel cellar, built six years ago, is a brand new chai, where fermentation and maceration can be finetuned.

2023 TASTING NOTE:

L’Aurage 2023 is 97% Merlot and 3% Cabernet Franc, mirroring the vineyard plantings. Spicy dark-fruited aromas with violets, coffee beans, white chocolate and a cedary, raisiny richness lead into a palate of plum, purple fruits and lush blackcurrant. The pliant mid-palate skips through to a fresh finish. The young vines were picked from 28th September, followed by a pause of a few days, before the older vines came in over a four-day period.

Corney & Barrow Score 17.5+

Recommended drinking from 2026 - 2033

£325/case of 12 bottles, in bond UK

£345/case of 6 bottles, in bond UK

£140/case of 1 double magnum, in bond UK

Click here to watch Guy Seddon talk to Louis Mitjavile about the 2023 vintage at L’Aurage.

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