Winemaker Notes
Château Haut-Blanville was created by husband-and-wife team Bernard and Béatrice Nivollet who moved to Grés de Montpellier to fulfill their lifelong dream of building a wine estate from the ground up, parcel by parcel. Twenty years of investment and passion brought their vision to fruition—today, Château Haut-Blanville consists of fourteen carefully selected, extraordinary, and self-sufficient parcels.
Inspired and informed by the Burgundy model of “climats,” Bernard and Béatrice produce an inspiring palette of cuvées indicative of their estate’s stellar terroir by crafting similar wines with similar compositions from diverse soils, environments, and orientations. Principal efforts are placed on responsibly developing the vineyards according to sustainable farming practices that combine Lutte Raisonnée (minimal intervention) with organic cultivation and biodynamics. These endeavors, along with skilled and spirited craftsmanship, are what ensures each wine’s amazing aging potential, finesse and ability to translate the particularity of the parcel from which it is sourced.
A catchall term for the area surrounding the Languedoc and Roussillon, Pays d’Oc is the most important IGP (Indication Géographique Protégée) in France, producing 85% of this country’s wine under the IGP designation. (IGP indicates wine of good quality, not otherwise elevated to the Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée (AOC) status.)
The near perfect Mediterranean climate combined with dry, cool winds from the north, optimal soils, altitudes and exposures make Pays d’Oc an ideal wine growing region. Single varietal wines and blends are possible here and while many types of grapes do well in Pays d’Oc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Grenache and Cinsault are among the most common.
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.