Chateau La Gaffeliere

Vines have been grown on this estate’s lands since the Gallo-Roman era and archaeology shows continual occupation since that point.

The name itself derives from a leper hospital situated on the site – gaffet meaning leper in English. At about this time the Comte de Malet-Roquefort family bought it for their own ends.

Their estate was relatively huge and was most probably tended by tenant farmers who handed over a portion of their produce each year. The shift from cereal production to viticulture in the region meant that by the 1700s wine was produced on the estate in sizeable quantities.

The family retains possession of the estate to the present day, having survived oidium, severe frosts, economic depression, war and much more besides.

The estate comprises of 22 hectares of vineyard within the St Emilion appellation. The soils are clay and mica at the top of the slopes and chalky towards the bottom. Vine age averages at 40 years and Merlot runs the show with 66 percent, the remainder being a combination of Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon.