Château Jean Faux

Chateau Jean Faux stands in Sainte-Radegonde, a magical, sometimes dreamlike place where the landscape is punctuated by low vines, small churches perched on hillsides, and castles with a noble and ghostly aura that speak of past history, the Middle Ages and merchants. The foundation of Chateau Jean Faux dates back to the 17th century (but the foundations at its base are even older) and is linked to the name of Ezechiel du Mas, count of Mélac and famous general of Louis XIV. It is said that this chateau already had a production of 120 tonneaux of red wine in 1886, as well as a 30-hectare vineyard estate.

Since 2002, it is Pascal Collotte along with his family who have settled in this structure rich in history, abandoning his trade as a cooper and experiencing wine from the other side, setting up as a vigneron himself. The village of Sainte-Radegonde, on the rive droit, a short distance from Saint-Emilion, is a renowned site for the production of great Bordeaux wines, thanks to the natural composition of the soils, rich in limestone and clay, and the proximity of the Dordogne River. Here, on the right side of the Garonne, Merlot is the most widely grown grape, along with small percentages of Cabernet Franc, Sauvignon and Sèmillon.

Pascal has wanted to approach the beauty of this place with equal care and grace; the approach since 2008 organic and since 2015 biodynamic, also label-certified, represent the most sensitive and appropriate choice for making wines that are increasingly territorial and increasingly less commercial. With the advice of Stéphane Derenoncourt and Claude Bourguignon, the best plots have been selected, chemistry between the rows and any kind of mechanization completely eliminated. In the cellar, the same light and graceful pace is followed, preferring spontaneous whole cluster fermentations and aging in used barrels, so as not to go to the detriment of the natural crispness of the fruit. Chateau Jean Faux represents for us the other side of Bordeaux, capable of moving away from the canons of austerity and power enshrined in the noblest local winemaking tradition, letting that land to talk, making its drinker's memory travel to those magnificent shores.