Château Cardinal-Villemaurine
Saint Émilion Grand Cru
Leclérot Family
The beautiful town of Saint Émilion is home to Château Cardinal-Villemaurine, a château where history and modern winemaking meet, and we are very pleased and proud to count them among our partners. This warm summer of 2022, we visited Saint Émilion to personally get to know the family who runs this estate.
A vineyard with history
This vineyard, established in the 19th century, has been owned by the Leclérot family since September 2018 and owes its name to two periods in its history.
The period of Saracen invasions around 732 gave it its name Villemaurine, city of the Moors, because there was supposedly an observation camp of the Moorish armies in this precise place in Saint Emilion.
Cardinal comes from the stay of Cardinal Gaillard de la Mothe - nephew of Bertrand de Goth, former Archbishop of Bordeaux, who became pope in 1305 under the name Clément V - who, after tasting the wines, proclaimed them king of wines. Over the years, successive owners have contributed to the fame and development of Château Cardinal Villemaurine.
A family business with passion
Christine & Alain Leclérot, wine lovers, pass on their passion to their youngest son Olivier. After specialized wine studies, Olivier can become the winemaker of the estate. In fact, Olivier is currently the youngest winemaker in Saint Émilion!
Together, the family set themselves a challenge: to restore the prestige of the Château. Modernization of technical facilities, restructuring of the vineyard, renovation of reception areas, everything is in place to produce a Grand Cru wine.
And we can say, this Château lives up to its challenges. The facilities are magnificent, and we were particularly impressed by the vision of the young winemaker Olivier and the shared passion of the Leclérot family.
It makes it a great pleasure to have these exclusive and excellent wines in our selection.
In addition to two award-winning Grand Cru wines, the Château also produces a Bordeaux Rosé and Bordeaux Blanc.
If you are near Saint Émilion, we highly recommend visiting this château and experiencing this love for winemaking yourself.