Château Tertre Rôtebœuf
Buy wines of Château Tertre Rôtebœuf
Tertre Rôtebœuf, formerly known simply as "Le Tertre", has gained its unique reputation through the work of François Mitjavile, an absolutely exceptional winemaker.
If things were right, the wines from Tertre Rôtebœuf would actually have 1er Grand Cru Classé status. In fact, however, they are not classified at all. This is due to the owner family Mitjavile, whose wines were repeatedly rejected during testing because they did not correspond to the expected typicity of the consortium. At some point, this prompted the Mitjaviles to stop playing the game. The situation is similar with the En Primeur tastings or sending the wines to Parker & Co. They prefer to go their own way here.
François Mitjavile is one of the few colourful dogs of the Bordelais who break away from the norm in a refreshing way. Born the son of successful hauliers in the south-west of France, he eventually moved to Paris to gain a foothold in the film and theatre business. There he met his wife Milute, whose family owned the Le Tertre vineyard and the neighbouring Bellefont-Belcier vineyard in Saint-Émilion. The wines had absolutely no reputation and back then, in the 1970s, François didn't know much about wine. Nevertheless, the subject appealed to him and he began to learn winemaking with Thierry Manoncourt at Château Figeac. he finally produced his first "Le Tertre" in 1977.
Since then, the winemaker has been producing his very own style. He is the one who picks his Merlot last because he wants the seeds to be fully ripe. At the same time, he is the one who intervenes the least in the cellar, does not extract and rather carries out an infusion. As a result, his wine is already ready to drink and extremely charming when he releases it, and yet this wine matures for decades.
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