Introducing the wines of Chateau Brandeau!

9/2/23 -

Chambers Street Wines is known for many things: old wine and rare collections, our well documented and historic love of the Loire Valley, championing lesser known producers and wine regions, and of course our dedication to organic and biodynamic agriculture and low-intervention winemaking. We're also known both locally and across the country for simply having an amazing selection of affordable organic/biodynamic wines that are what you might call "great everyday bottles." We are proud proponents of delicious, well made wines from great farming that don't break the bank, so we're happy today to introduce a new find, the wines from Chateau Brandeau!

The estate is run by Julien Voogt, who came to Bordeaux by way of Belgium after bouncing around the world a bit. Previously the vines were tended by Anthony King, a British native whose father bought the estate in 1973. Anthony has lived there since 1988, and worked the vineyards organically since 1990, which was certainly unheard of at the time and is still rare in the Castillon Cotes-de-Bordeaux apellation (in fact they are to this day still the only certified organic winery in the appellation). In 2014, Anthony began looking for a renter for the vines, as he was in his 60s and thinking of retirement. Without any sucessor, he put an ad out for 9 hectares of organic vines and Julien was one of a few people who responded. Once they met, the decision was clear to Anthony that Julien should be the "sucessor" of the domaine, as they shared a passion for an organic approach to agriculture and they both wanted to preserve the old farm and all of its biodiversity. In fact it was a requirement as part of the rental that the work continue this way, and Julien was happy for that. After spending two years at Chateau Meylet (A long-time biodynamic estate in St. Emilion), he was hoping to find vines farmed with a similar approach, and was delighted with the opportunity to take over the farming and winemaking at Chateau Brandeau.

The property is located in Salles-de-Castillon, within the Castillon Cotes-de-Bordeaux appellation, and is mainly composed of clay-limestone hillsides facing south, particularly suitable for the cultivation of Merlot and Cabernet Franc, which make up most of the vineyard plantings. The vineyards are all within one property, without any neighbors in conventional agriculture, so it is truly its own tiny ecosystem. As Julien writes: "More than a terroir, it is a living place in the heart of unspoiled nature. The vast majority of the parcels of vines are in one piece and surrounded by woods, hedges, meadows and fruit trees offering a superb place, ideal for organic farming and the balance and diversity of fauna and flora." (Chateau Brandeau website)

Vineyard work is free of chemical products, and plowing has been minimised over the years and is solely done by Toby, their Percheron horse (under some guidance and supervision obviously).

Harvests and sorting are all done by hand, and fermentations range in style depending on the spirit of the wine. Julien employs carbonic maceration with whole clusters, short, 'infusion' style macerations, and more traditional, longer macerations with a bit more extraction. The variety of these approaches is what was so compelling about the wines, as the styles range from very juicy and quaffable, to a more classic and "predictable" fuller-bodied Bordeaux profile. As Julien explains, "we choose short extractions and vatting for fresh fruit wines and longer and more intense for our plots offering us the ripest and richest musts." The wines are not fined or filtered and see only a small addition of sulfites at the bottling.

I actually met Julien in the evening after a wine fair in southern France. As he was Belgian, I assumed he was a retailer or restaurateur and only found out by chatting that he was in fact a winemaker! Tasting through his wines the next morning, I immediately thought that they would be a nice addition to our shelves here at Chambers Street Wines. Obviously Bordeaux is not in any way hip with today's younger drinkers, even the 30-40 year olds see Bordeaux as a wine from their parents' generation, so I didn't imagine these being best-sellers with the Brooklyn crowd! That said, the wines are natural in approach, always fermented with native yeast, see minimal sulfur, and three of the wines (the first three offered today) are to me very atypical for Bordeaux in a refreshing way. Julien is doing a great job showcasing the potential that Bordeaux has for more variety and new styles of winemaking, while still paying homage to classic wines of the region with two 'traditional' reds. For any fan of delicious sub $20 well-made low intervention organic wines, (ok one of them is $25, but still!) the wines of Chateau Brandeau are a must try!

-Eben Lillie