About Château Jean Faux

Pascal Collotte, co-founder of the renowned wine barrel company Saury, with an annual production of 40,000 oak barrels, bought an expired domain near St. Emilion in 2002, in the hamlet of Sainte Radegonde to be exact. He set to work energetically and, working organically from day one, brought vineyard and cellar back to full working order.

In 2010, he took leave of his barrel business to devote himself entirely to wine production. The estate has 12 hectares of vineyard of which 6 are located on a plateau, the rest on the beautiful rolling hillsides. About 11 hectares are planted with red grape varieties: merlot (80%) and cabernet- franc (20%). The remaining 1 1⁄2 hectares is planted with white grapes of which: 80% sauvignon-blanc and 20% sémillon.

When tasting the wines of Château Jean Faux, the great (taste) concentration stands out. This is achieved during and after fermentation, by pumping the grape juice from the bottom of the fermentation vat or tank over the superimposed grape mass. This "rémontage" is performed up to three times daily. In some years, the floating grape skins are manually pushed down into the juice, called 'pigéage'. Because this is never done automatically, but extremely gently and manually, it creates a wine with great concentration, but also with beautifully incorporated tannins. In both red wines a clear wood tone is noticeable, but it is never disturbing. Every year 40 to 50% of the barrels are renewed. He uses barrels whose wood thickness is 22 mm. The toasting is medium to medium plus. Barrel aging takes place in the refrigerated barrel cellar where it is a maximum of 16 degrees Celsius day and night. Barrels are refilled weekly in the beginning because a new barrel sucks up as much as 6 liters of wine! Later that thirst decreases and refills can be made biweekly. A barrel full to the brim also requires less (protective) SO2, and that is entirely in keeping with this craftsman's philosophy. The less sulfur the better. Jean Faux is a "little one" compared to many other Bordeaux Châteaux, with a yield of about 60,000 bottles. It has been working biodynamically in vineyard and cellar since 2015. Member of BIODYVIN.