The Estate

Un domaine en conversion bio niché en pleine nature

On the sloping plateau of the village of St Laurent du Plan, close to
the town of Langon, domaine

cradle of famous Graves wines, Château Les Bruges,
is a winemaking estate with 32 hectares (80 acres) in a single stretch.
Ran by Vincent Lebas from 2008, the estate cooperated during 20 years
with Dulong company. Chateau Les Bruges was settled in the early years
of 19th century, by Sarrauste family, beside the ruins of “Chateau
Latour” the first historical name of the site...
The old château buildings as a fortress were laid out around a central
courtyard and date back to the beginning of the 15th century. But today
the only visible sign of the first buildings is a long subpass linking
together the old century castle and neighbouring Chateau Lavergne. The
actual building and Girondine house were built in 1820.

Set on a clay-limestone hill with ideal exposure to the sun, domaine

on the
south, thereby favouring the ripening process, 29,5 hectares (73 acres)
of land planted with the noble grape varieties – Merlot, Cabernet Franc
and Cabernet Sauvignon - are devoted to the production of a fine
Bordeaux red made with perfectly ripe grapes vinified in the traditional
and natural way.
2.2 hectares (6,5 acres) of silt-clay soils produce a very distinguished
sweet white wine which highlights the remarkable expression of the 50
years old Semillon vines giving beautiful grapes, picked overripe and
concentrated thanks to the late harvest ability of the “terroir”. The
winemaking method combines cold maceration, clarification of the musts,
low-temperature fermentation and long maturing.

The character of a Bordeaux "pure"

    As an independent and private Estate, Château les Bruges gets the very best from its vineyard to the winery, in order to give birth to wines that are made with time and passion, far from hurry and industry.     Thanks to a meticulous and natural vine growing banning the use of pesticides and herbicides, the wines character is pure and delicious with possible longevity according to the Bordeaux tradition.
    The aim is to let the plants giving their best, reflecting the distinctiveness and bounty of their "terroir", set up by a man in the middle of the process –Vincent Lebas- into the wines of "Château Les
Bruges". True in their character, exceptional in terms of purity and natural approach, they will attract all wine-lovers looking for trueness and high standard of quality.
The estate is following Ecocert Organic certification program.

The Vineyard

EXPANSE: 32 hectares in a single stretch, with 29.5 producing reds and 2.2 whites.
SOILS: Clay-limestone with large clay outcrops locally for the reds. Silt-clay for the whites.
CLIMATE: The Atlantic Ocean located at 100 km on the west is bringing smooth sea climate mild with continental influence coming from central France’s mountains. The proximity of Garonne river at 8km on the south prevent coldness and freeze in winter and contribute to give freshness during warm summers.
VINE-GROWING TECHNIQUES : *RESPECTING & PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT*
Chateau Les Bruges has been practicing integrated farming for long years and applying environmentally-friendly methods to the vineyard. Great respect to nature, sustainable pest-control methods, grass cover, green harvesting and leaf-stripping have been applied for around 20 years. We are applying *full ORGANIC farming* including renunciation to using pesticides and herbicides for more than one year. Treatments with copper are made to 40% less than authorized, as 4 kg/ha per year and productivity is only targeted at 45hl/ha, instead of 55hl/possible.
HARVESTING: by machine
MANAGER: Vincent Lebas, farmer and sommelier .
PLANTING DENSITY: 3 x 1 â 24 ha 2 x 1 â 8 ha
GRAPE VARIETIES: 29,5 hectares of red vines made up as follows:
Merlot: 12,0 Ha
Cabernet Sauvignon: 14,2 Ha
Cabernet Franc: 3,3 Ha
2.2 hectares of white vines made up as follows: Semillon: 2.2 Ha.
AVERAGE AGE OF THE VINES: 20 years.
PRODUCTION: 12,000 bottles of sweet white wine and 200,000 bottles of red wine
BOTTLING: at the estate
PACKAGING: In pet glasses of 18,7cl and glass bottles of 75cl with artificial cork.
SALES: France and Export