Located on the township of Cissac, in the district of Pauillac, the vineyard is next to the label of origin Saint-Estèphe on two sides. The neighboring chateaux are Coutelin Merville and Lafon-Rochet.

Geology

At the end of the Primary era, the sea invaded the region several times, leading to deposition of limestone, marl, clay and pebbles. The soils of Hanteillan are from the Oligocene (Tertiary era) are about 30 million years old and are mainly calcareous.

Thus, the vines grow on three types of soils :

  • Argilo-Calcareous soils in which many sea-urchin and sea-shell fossils can be found.
  • White and green Marls.
  • Fine gravelly soils called ‘Méric Formation’.

Vineyard

The vineyard is managed in accordance with the tradition: each wine grower is responsible for his plot of vines, which he prunes and cares for every year.
Thus, the property is divided into small areas of 5 or 6 hectares called ‘Prix-Faits’. Commonly, wine growers refer to their plot of vines as ‘my place’.

The grape harvest

On the vineyard, we have been using machines since 1979. We use three grape harvesters, which allows us to harvest the whole vineyard within 9 days.
Then, the grapes go through a sorting table with which wine growers (usually women) polish up the quality of the harvest

Although Hanteillan is a fairly large vineyard, preserving the environment is one of our priorities:

Not a single anti-acarid product has been used since 1984. Biological control is used instead and we are very proud of our population of acarid-eating insects.

We have a meteorological station on site, which allows us to limit the number of fungicides used (anti-mildew, and anti-powdery-mildew).


Aerial view of the vineyard.

Area :
 82 hectares (190 acres).
Vines :
 45 % Merlot
46 % Cabernet Sauvignon
5 % Cabernet Franc
4 % Petit Verdot
Density :
 8000 & 6600 vines/ha.
Mean age of
the vines :
25 years.
Mean total
production :
4600 Hl.



Jean-Marie Mehaye has been leading the vineyard and the wine growers since 1984.