Château Haut-Monplaisir

Château Haut-Monplaisir was bought by Cathy and Daniel Fournié in 1998. Their daughter, Mathilde, joined her parents in 2015. The property is located on the ‘third terrace’ of Cahors above the River Lot. At 200 metres altitude, this is the highest point of this particular alluvial terroir (with the best drainage thanks to the siliceous clay soil with pebbles) and it’s facing due south – meaning to say it produces the highest quality wines!

Having sought advice from neighbouring growers, such as Pascal and Jean-Marc Verhaeghe, the Fourniés introduced organic cultivation to the estate, believing that this would enable them to best express the terroir in the resulting wines. Chemical herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers were banished and cover crops introduced between the rows. Yields are kept low and leaf-thinning practised to get perfect ripeness. The first fully certified organic crop was in 2012. The estate now covers 30 ha, with mostly Malbec planted, although there are small quantities of white grapes, mainly Chardonnay and Viognier.

Fermentation is in cement tanks, followed by ageing in vat or oak depending on the wine, with minimal use of sulphur, generally just a small amount at bottling. The wines are bottled unfiltered. The aim is to make wines with vivacity and fine tannins by understanding their terroir and the vines, thereby improving the quality year on year.