The rich legacy of Château Le Puy is multivalent. The Amoreau family has been farming their estate in Bordeaux for over 400 years; it is a story that spans the arc of fifteen generations, each one building upon the discoveries of the last. Winemaking is at the heart of this story, the wine becoming the record of each chapter, a drink that tells the tale of a family whose passion for its land rises above all else. The Amoreau family have exponentially expounded upon the potential of terroir, boosting its opportunity for expressions via the cultivation of harmonious ecosystems. They have turned the Château into a haven of biodiversity, replete with insect meadows, managed forests, and ponds, and reintroduced livestock as a source of fertilizer, groundskeeping and joy. They practice various methods of agroforestry, planting black currants between the vines in order to attract pollinators while growing horsetail, buckthorn and nettle to steep with horn compost—the recipe for biodynamic plant infusions administered in accordance with the lunar calendar.

Château Le Puy’s focus is holistic; there is no facet of life here that is insignificant. All must be delicately tended and nurtured. Trace minerals cultivated in the soil shine in the fruit and present terrifically in the cellar. The proof is in the wine!

All of Château Le Puy’s fruit is harvested by hand, and all of their wines are named after the ancestors that started the farm. In 1994, they were the first estate to introduce dynamisation, a process in which the wine is stirred in one direction and then the other two to three times a month, depending on the dictates of our oenological queen, the moon. This process has proven to deepen texture, reduce sediment and add a marked complexity.

The Rose-Marie rosé is made with 100% merlot. The grapes are set into cement vats to ferment naturally as red wine. The rosé is culled from this vat using a method known as la saignée, a technique that involves “bleeding” off a portion of red wine in the fermentation tank as it ferments on the stems and seeds. The dark pink wine is then allowed to ferment on its own. It is then dynamised for 6-8 months. The product is a rosé that is atypical, full of rich fruit and laced with a fine tannin that offers solid structure for roving notes of peony.