Chateau de Saint-Amour Saint-Amour

About Chateau de Saint-Amour Saint-Amour

Chateau de Saint-Amour Saint-Amour presents a brilliant garnet color, with delicate aromas of red and black fruits like cherry, and floral notes, reminiscent of roses. It is pleasantly rich and structured, with silky and unctuous tannins and a persistent finish.

About Georges Duboeuf

For more than four centuries, the Duboeuf family has been producing wine. Georges, who passed away in January 2020 at age 86, was well-known for his dynamism, created Les Vins Georges Duboeuf in September of 1964. This historical date also marked the start of his wine merchant business — selecting, bottling, and selling fine French wines from the Beaujolais and Mâconnais regions of Burgundy In the process, Georges and his wines became world-famous.

In essence, Georges was the ambassador of the region…loyal to his quest of offering quality wines, combining the flavor profiles of their terroir with bold characters. He conducted his business by negotiating with heart, passion, and the constant desire to share the very best of Beaujolais. In continuing the family tradition, Georges’ son Franck runs the family business, with his son Aurelian recently taking a role on the winemaking side, and Franck’s wife Anne managing the unique “wine-centric” museum, botanical gardens, and family-friendly amusement park, Le Hameau Duboeuf.

About the Winemaking

The south-facing vineyards of the estate include 49 acres where most of the vineyards are more than 20 years old and trellised in the traditional gobelet style. Harvest is conducted manually in whole bunches. Semi-carbonic maceration and malolactic fermentation take place in temperature-controlled stainless steel vats. The wine sees no oak aging.

About Saint-Amour

Saint-Amour is the most northerly of the ten Beaujolais cru areas, located just to the south of the Maconnais appellations of Pouilly-Fuisse and Saint-Veran. Saint-Amour wines are among the lightest of the Beaujolais crus, often displaying spiced berry and stone-fruit characters with a marked minerality. Just under 320 hectares (800 ac) are planted to the Gamay grape variety on the south- and east-facing hillsides on the western banks of the Saone River, making up the viticultural area of the Saint-Amour appellation. While most of the ten Beaujolais cru areas were established in the 1930s, Saint-Amour was not officially delimited as a cru until February 1946. Today, it is one of the smallest Beaujolais appellations, larger only than Chenas.

The topography here in the northern part of Beaujolais is hillier than in the south. Clay loam soils made up mainly of schist and granite are complemented by smaller amounts of limestone. These lightly textured soils are often credited with contributing to the minerality that marks the wines of Saint-Amour. The hills to the west of Beaujolais shelter the vineyards of Saint-Amour from heavy weather systems from the north, instead giving rise to a dry, warm wind that helps to keep moisture out of the vineyards, reducing the risk of mildew. The angle and elevation of the vineyards maximize sunshine exposure, ensuring grapes have ample sunlight during the ripening period. The harvest in this part of Beaujolais often comes earlier than that in the flatter vineyard areas in the south of the Beaujolais region.

The Saint-Amour appellation takes its title from the Saint-Amour-Bellevue commune, itself named for a Roman soldier who escaped death by converting to Christianity. Legend has it that he established a monastery in the area, and was later canonized as Saint Amateur (amateur meaning ‘lover’ in French). Sales of Saint-Amour wine therefore tend to soar around St. Valentine’s Day in February with 20 to 25 percent occurring in the month of February.