Winemaker Notes
Critical Acclaim
All Vintages
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.
Whether it’s playful and fun or savory and serious, most rosé today is not your grandmother’s White Zinfandel, though that category remains strong. Pink wine has recently become quite trendy, and this time around it’s commonly quite dry. Since the pigment in red wines comes from keeping fermenting juice in contact with the grape skins for an extended period, it follows that a pink wine can be made using just a brief period of skin contact—usually just a couple of days. The resulting color depends on grape variety and winemaking style, ranging from pale salmon to deep magenta.