Château des Annereaux aims for excellence

In 2017, Dominique, owner of Château des Annereaux , passed the reins to his son Benjamin. That same year, the family estate celebrated 10 years of organic farming. Dominique and Benjamin Hessel took the opportunity to open the château's doors on March 30, 2017. Guests had the chance to discover a renovated and modern winery, taste organic wines from 10 vintages, and get a sneak peek at the 2016 vintage before the En Primeur week.

Château des Annereaux invites wine professionals

On Thursday, March 30, 2017, Château de Annereaux in the Lalande-de-Pomerol appellation of Bordeaux opened its doors to wine professionals. 2017 is a special year for Dominique and Benjamin Hessel, who wanted to mark the occasion.

• After 40 years of work, Dominique is passing the torch to his son Benjamin.
• The Château celebrates its 10 years in Organic Farming ,
• A new, modern wine cellar is inaugurated.
• A perfect opportunity to discover the 2016 wines: the en primeur campaign is about to begin.

Benjamin Hessel: the new generation arrives at Château des Annereaux

It's a beautiful family story that began in the 14th century. For 600 years, the Château des Annereaux has been passed down from generation to generation. This year, after 40 years of passionate work faithful to family tradition, Dominique is entrusting the estate to Benjamin: experience is giving way to youth. " I'm 35 this year. I always dreamed of working on the property, but I wanted to see something different. So I went to Paris for a while to work, and I decided to come back to the estate four years ago ," Benjamin tells us. " Upon my return, I trained for two years while working at the Château. It was mainly my father, an agricultural engineer and oenologist, who taught me this trade," he emphasizes.

The Château des Annereaux is a historic family property: Benjamin's grandmother (the little girl next to the car) and great-great-grandfather (the gentleman next to her).

2017 marks a new beginning for Château des Annereaux. A beginning full of ambition: " My ultimate goal is to be the flagship of the Lalande-de-Pomerol appellation," confides Benjamin.

Dominique and Benjamin knew how to give themselves the means to achieve this goal. Starting with the very courageous decision 10 years ago to embark on Organic Farming.

Our favorite wines from the estate:

Lalande de Pomerol Organic 2014

Lalande de Pomerol Organic 2015

Lalande de Pomerol Organic 2011

2007 – 2017: 10 years of Organic Farming at Château des Annereaux

In 2007, Dominique began converting the Château to organic farming. For the past 10 years, the estate's wines have been produced using clean and responsible viticulture. Benjamin is very proud of this choice: " I really want to pay tribute to my father. It was a courageous decision and a very important turning point for the property. He followed through on his convictions despite the risks, and I am proud to be able to continue his work. "

At Domaine des Annereaux, vineyard work is carefully considered. For 10 years now, the vineyard has been certified organic.

" We do it first and foremost for those who work in the vineyards. They are on the front line and bear the brunt of it. For them, and of course for the soil. "

Organic farming also allows them to work with a fruitier profile in their wines, as Benjamin explains: " With the switch to organic, we have regained acidity in the wines. In tasting, we are much more focused on the fruit and the wines are cleaner. "

This conversion to organic has been nothing but good, and so it is only logical that Dominique and Benjamin want to celebrate the 10 years with a large vertical tasting (the same vintage over several years) of the last 10 years.

A modern winery to improve the quality of the vintages

Château des Annereaux produces three wines : Château des Annereaux (Lalande-de-Pomerol), Château des Biscarrats (Lalande-de-Pomerol), and Bordeaux (Bordeaux). Benjamin explains: “ We don’t want overly oaked wines. We want to emphasize the fruit. Our Lalande-de-Pomerol wines are 80% Merlot. They are elegant, silky, and refined. We try not to over-process our wines, aiming to create wines that truly represent the grape varieties. ”

The new winery at Château des Annereaux will allow them to improve the quality of the wines

The new winery was designed with the aim of improving the quality of production. The work took two years: " We renovated the fermentation room and added a bottling line. We invested in a new sorting machine, a vibrating bin, and in the buildings to ensure optimal wine storage. "

These investments will allow winemakers to produce wines on a smaller scale and improve the selection process. " We've added smaller containers so we can vinify by plot. The sorting machine will allow us to select the grapes much more effectively, keeping only the highest quality ones. We're going to refine our selection ," says the young winemaker.

Everything is being done to achieve the goal of becoming the benchmark for the Lalande-de-Pomerol appellation. The icing on the cake is the arrival at the estate of a very promising young oenologist: Axel Marchal. For Benjamin, this choice is very important: “ I trained with Denis Dubourdieu. So it was only natural that we decided to work with Axel Marchal since 2016, a young oenologist who will contribute enormously to the quality of our wines .”

Without a doubt, with such a combination and such a strong will, Benjamin Hessel is heading rapidly towards great success.