Angélus to build new cellar for Carillon

St Emilion grand cru classé ‘A’ Château Angélus, has said it plans to build an entirely new chai in which to produce its second wine, Carillon de l’Angélus.

Photo credit: JB Nadeau

Speaking to the drinks business yesterday (1 March) Stéphanie de Boüard and Thierry Grenié-de Boüard explained that work on the 4,000 m² cellar will begin this May and should be finished by summer next year.

The cellar, designed by a local architect, will be gravity-fed and make use of all the most modern winemaking methods.

In the pipeline for sometime, Thierry explained that little thought had been given to the environmental impact of the cellar but that had changed when he took charge of the project last year.

He explained that the cellar would be certified by the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM), which will help monitor the winery’s CO₂ production as well as its energy and water use.

He continued: “So far only Cheval Blanc has something similar. We wanted to show a deeper engagement with the environment beyond just organic farming.”

Stéphanie added that the new cellar would allow for both a greater focus on the quality of Carillon but also increase its production to supply mounting demand.

Currently, production is limited by the small winery in which Carillon has to be made (‘A’ status precludes a winery’s second wine from being made in the same chai as the first) and only around 40,000 to 50,000 bottles of Carillon are made a year.

Stéphanie explained that the new cellar would help Angélus to fulfill its aim of eventually doubling production, which would, in turn, allow it to meet the growing demand for the wine and let “a wider array of consumers…touch the Angélus ‘galaxy’ [range].”

Furthermore, she explained, it was an example of the increasing care Angélus (and many other estates) is taking towards its second label, to show that it was “not just the leftovers of the first wine.”