Location and vineyards
Château de la Jaubertie is located in Colombier in the Dordogne department, on the edge of the Monbazillac appellation and around 100 kilometres from Bordeaux. The estate in South West France covers 42 hectares of vines.
The climate is semi-continental and also influenced by the ocean, with dry summers and humid spring periods. The vineyards are divided into plateaus, slopes and flat sites: the plateau has calcareous rock at a depth of between 0.5 and 2 metres beneath reddish-brown clay, the slopes are characterised by limestone, while the flat sites consist of moist, dense grey Boulbène clay.
Vines and cultivation
The white grape varieties include Sauvignon Blanc, Sémillon, Muscadelle, Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc. For the red varieties, Merlot, Malbec, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Mérille and Fer Servadou are grown in the vineyard. Planting density is 5,500 vines per hectare for the white and 5,000 for the red varieties; the vines are trained vertically and cut with spurs or cordons.
The switch to organic farming began in 2005; since 2008 the entire property has been certified accordingly. Cultivation measures include cover crops of vetch, barley, field beans and peas, three-year fallow periods on ploughed plots, as well as lucerne, sunflowers and maize on uncultivated areas. Against grape moth, the confusion method is used without chemical treatments; selected areas of woody vegetation are kept as habitats for biodiversity.
Wines
Château produces red, white and rosé wines under the AOP Bergerac designation, as well as wines of the AOP Monbazillac. The range also includes sweet, sparkling and natural wines. The natural sparkling wine Joe & Bertie Pet'Nat' is also part of the range.
The wines Les Cépages Oubliés are made without additives, bottled unfiltered and certified as Vin Méthode Nature. The allocation of the sites follows the soil structure: plateau sites are used mainly for red wines, calcareous slopes especially for white wines, and the Boulbène sites for rosé wines as well as some white wines.
Cellar work
The red wines are vinified at low temperatures without SO₂, with only a few pump-overs and rackings. For the Tradition wines, a three-day cold maceration is planned; they are pressed before fermentation is complete. Monologue, Mirabelle and Colombier are aged after fermentation on the skins in French oak barrels with a capacity of 225 or 400 litres and with minimal SO₂. All the red wines from the estate are bottled unfiltered.
White grapes are hand-harvested early in the morning and, if needed, cooled to between 5 and 8 °C. Around 15 to 20 percent of the white wine ferments in French oak barrels; afterwards, the wines remain on fine lees for one to four months without sulphites. The natural wines are hand-harvested, cold-macerated for three days and macerated without added yeasts or other oenological products, then aged in tanks without wood and bottled without SO₂.
History of the château
Archaeological evidence dates a Neolithic settlement at the site to around 4000 BC. In the 12th century, Jaubertie was a well-established fief; in the 16th century, King Henry IV used the château as a hunting lodge. Since 1973, the estate has belonged to the Ryman family. The château has been listed as a historic monument since 2005.
