Winery Les Grands Chais de FranceLa Terra Rouge

French national appellation authority (INAO) representative Alexis Sannier told decanter.com that a committee had ‘validated’ in September their ‘admissibility as premier cru climats and commissioned a group of experts to determine their delimitation’. Official recognition for 2024 ‘seems realistic’, he said. The request for the four climats – Les Mûres in Pouilly-Loché and Les Quarts, Les Longeays, and Les Pétaux in Pouilly-Vinzelles, which account for about one-third of 84 hectares from the tw ...

The Alsace-based group is France’s biggest wine exporter and the biggest private winemaker in the country, with 68 properties spread across the country. It is also the largest exporter of French wine, accounting for around one in every six bottles sold in international markets, with brands including Calvet and J.P. Chenet. The company, whose full name is Les Grands Chais de France, recently shifted its strategy in a bid to become a global wine producer with estates in a variety of premium wine r ...

The deal includes 390ha of land in the Haut-Médoc appellation, of which 80ha is currently planted with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot, along with the winery. It will allow TWE’s flagship brand, Penfolds, to increase its focus on creating blends featuring grapes from Bordeaux and Barossa. Earlier this year, chief winemaker Peter Gago unveiled Penfolds II, a Cabernet-Shiraz-Merlot blend created in partnership with Dourthe Bordeaux. The wine featured 71% grapes grown in Bordeaux and 29 ...