The Château des Bormettes: a Provençal estate that sees red and white

Yannick has been working at Château des Bormettes for five years. This great wine lover, from a long line of Provençal winemakers, left the world of distribution to return to his first love. In the Château des Bormettes team, he found people as passionate as he is. " We have the opportunity to experiment without dogmatism. We always maintain a long-term strategy with a great deal of independence. The owner, Fabrice Faré, is passionate about history and agriculture and encourages us to do everything possible in the fields for sustainable farming, away from trends and market pressures."

The Château des Bormettes: a historic property in Provence

Château des Bormettes overlooks almost the Mediterranean Sea, between Marseille and Saint-Tropez , in the very specific terroir of La Londe. It benefits from particular and privileged conditions that led to the creation of the Côtes-de-Provence La Londe appellation . " We were the first to exist within this appellation. In fact, the village of La Londe was founded long after Château des Bormettes ," explains Yannick.

Indeed, the Château des Bormettes holds its place in the history of wine production, with traces of production dating back to the 10th century. For Yannick, " that's the whole point of our terroir: layers of history have accumulated to create our estate today. "

Bormettes Castle is looking at the long term

A long history and a long tradition have led Yannick and his team to consider the long term. " We think long-term ," he explains. This applies to the vineyard, the cellar, the wines, and even the staff: " We try to have people who stay for a very long time. More than half of the staff live on the estate. It's important for creating a family atmosphere ." The château is also working on grape varieties and wines adapted to the terroir of La Londe.

The Château des Bormettes focuses on red and white wines

In a world where pale rosé reigns supreme, acclaimed by consumers, increasingly appreciated by connoisseurs, and a symbol of Provence , Château des Bormettes is taking a different approach. " Our project is to develop both white and red wines," explains Yannick. "Today, rosé represents 70% of our production, and we want to reduce that to 50% quickly, then 35% in the long term, with a 33% red and 33% white ratio. " This is perfectly logical for this terroir, which lends itself to rich, fruity, and concentrated wines. Château des Bormettes refuses to be interventionist: " To produce trendy rosé wines, meaning very pale ones, we would be forced to add numerous fining agents. We refuse to do that. It's our working philosophy. We produce wines that reflect the terroir ," the winemaker emphasizes.

Producing great red and white wines: the goal of Château des Bormettes

Our favorite wines from the estate:

Coast & Sea

Instinct Parcellaire Rosé

Instinct Parcellaire La Bergerie

The Château des Bormettes produces terroir wines

“ In the La Londe appellation, our particularity is that we are on a schist terroir with a lot of quartz. These characteristics are found in our wines with notions of minerality, salinity, notes of pebbles, smoky aspects, a form of freshness that is neither acidity nor bitterness, ” says Yannick.

To showcase the terroir in his wines, Yannick works with fully ripe grapes, using minimal intervention, fining, and filtration as late as possible. For his red wines, extractions are very restrained: " We work more with the concept of infusion, which is gentler and more delicate. In barrels, we aim to develop the wine's structure rather than extract oaky aromas. "

Ultimately, the wines of Château des Bormettes are deeply colored, full-bodied, aromatic, flavorful, and have a rich mouthfeel. " The rosé is very easy to drink and pairs well with meals. It has structure, plenty of aroma, and good body ," notes Yannick.

The Bormettes castle looks far ahead.

In addition to the 65 hectares currently under cultivation, the Bormettes team plans to plant another 20 hectares of vines in the coming years. “ We are replanting a lot of Rolle (also called Vermentino) because it seems to us to be a grape variety well-suited to the Mediterranean climate. In a few months, we will also be replanting Carignan, which is very well-adapted to the drought conditions we face ,” explains Yannick. He also plans to replant Ugni Blanc and Mourvèdre… a diversification of grape varieties that will allow him to increase the proportion of white and red wines produced on the estate.

Bringing biodiversity back to the estate while maintaining a connection to history is the goal of Château des Bormettes, which also plans to revive olive oil production. " The 15th-century monks bequeathed us an olive oil production and old oil mills. We would like to replant olive trees and produce olive oil again ," explains Yannick.

Wine lovers, passionate about freedom and driven to make the wine they love. Welcome to Château des Bormettes.

Manon Mouly (for Les Grappes )