History of the Property
The property of Château Béard La Chapelle has been in the same family for 9 generations and has had two main chapters in its history. In 1980, Richard Moureau took over the vineyards from his parents and built a cellar next to the single vineyard plot "Béard", the site of an ancient chapel from which the property took its name. He received the following year the « le Chapitre des Honneurs » of Saint Emilion for his 1981 vintage awarded to him by the famous oenologist, Emile Peynaud. In 2006, Richard’s son Franck left his career in journalism to take over the running of the estate. In 2009 his sister Laurence takes in charge communication and export issues. The estate has grown by a few hectares, vines have been replaced and the density of the vineyards has been increased to 7,600 vines per hectare. The winery has been updated and procedures such as "green harvesting" deleafing, desuckering and removing the superfluous bunches of grapes) have been introduced systematically.
The Vineyard, Terroir and Grapes
There are 18 hectares of vineyards grow in clay and limestone soils on the slopes of St Emilion and deep sand on the base of the slopes. The average age of the vines is 40 years and the density of the vines is 5,500 per hectare for the oldest parcels of vines and 7,600 vines per hectare for all of the plots that have been replanted. Béard La Chapelle is a wine made from the three main grape varieties of the appellation :
- Merlot (90%) : The predominance of Merlot in this wine gives a good aromatic complexity of red and black fruits. The signature of Béard is a floral perfume of rose and violets. The tannins are supple and there is a roundness on the palate with a smooth silky finish.
- Cabernet Franc (7%) and Cabernet Sauvignon (3%) : The Cabernets give spicy notes to the wine and a good structure which helps to give it further ageing potential. Château Béard La Chapelle is a feminine wine of elegance and finesse.According to the type of soil, the vines are grafted with 101.14 root stocks (for the lighter soils), and 3309 (for the deep well draining sands).