Tertre Roteboeuf St. Emilion Bordeaux, Complete Guide

Learn everything about Tertre Roteboeuf St. Emilion with wine tasting notes and wine with food pairing tips. Learn the best vintages, a history of the property and information on the vineyards and winemaking. If you want to read about other important, Bordeaux Chateaux: Links to all Bordeaux Wine Producer Profiles

Tertre Roteboeuf History, Overview

Tertre Roteboeuf has been a family affair for a few generations at this point. It started when the estate was known as Le Tertre. The traditional farmhouse on the estate was constructed in the early 18th century, about 1730, give or take.

Jumping ahead, the modern era for Tertre Roteboeuf starts when the vineyard was owned by François Mitjavile’s future father-in-law, Emile Gilard. In 1961, after he passed away, it was next inherited by his daughter Miloute.

At the time, the Miloute family also owned the neighboring vineyard of Chateau Bellefont Belcier. In those days, there was no wine produced as Tertre Roteboeuf. Those vines were simply included in Bellefont Belcier.

She and her cousins came to an agreement. She owned the vineyards. They had the time and the knowledge as they were already established producers in Saint Emilion. So a partnership was formed which gave birth to what we know of as Tertre Roteboeuf today.

Wanting to learn about winemaking, François Mitjavile started his wine career at another St. Emilion estate, Chateau Figeac in 1975. Two short years later, he returned to Le Tertre. For the first vintage of his new winery, he changed the name of the property from Le Terte to Le Tertre Roteboeuf, and a new estate was born.

The logic behind this was to separate the estate from the numerous Right Bank chateaux already using the word Tertre in their name. His plan was to make the name of the chateau stand out. And it did!

The name, Le Tertre Roteboeuf which is loosely translated into “Hill of the belching beef,” pays homage to a time when the property was probably used for cattle to graze during medieval times.

The first vintage of Le Tertre Roteboeuf produced by François Mitjavile was the 1978. While the estate is not what you would call modern, one of the first changes made by Francois Mitjavile was to begin the practice of using a portion of new, French oak to age the wine.

Prior to François Mitjavile taking over Tertre Roteboeuf, the wines were never aged in new oak barrels. That changed starting with the 1985 vintage when the wines were aged in 50% new, French oak barrels for the first time.

In a few years, the wine of Tertre Roteboeuf would be aged in 100% new, French oak barrels, a practice they continue using today. Next, François Mitjavile began harvesting later, picking riper fruit and reducing the yields.

François Mitjavile soon began moving to use organic, sustainable, vineyard farming techniques. It took only a few years until Tertre Roteboeuf became known as one of the top wines of the St. Emilion appellation.

The turnaround began with the 1989 vintage. Since 1989, Tertre Roteboeuf has maintained its status as one of the best wines from Saint Emilion.

Tertre Roteboeuf Vineyards, Terroir, Grapes, Winemaking

The 6-hectare vineyard of Tertre Roteboeuf is planted to 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc. The vines are located in the southeastern sector of Saint Emilion. They are not far from Chateau Troplong Mondot, Chateau Larcis Ducasse and Chateau Pavie.

The terroir is a hillside slope with limestone and clay-based soils in one large block. The hillside elevation offered great, natural drainage. The vineyards of Tertre Roteboeuf are planted to 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc. On average, the vines are 40 years of age.

However, some of the Cabernet Franc vines are closer to 50 years of age. Due to a combination of personal preference and their naturally cooler terroir, Tertre Roteboeuf is usually one of the last estates to finish harvesting in Saint Emilion.

Even though they start picking later than most estates in the region, because they usually complete their harvest over just a day or so, instead of picking over an extended period of time, they are able to retain the freshness needed in their fruit.

Tertre Roteboeuf is not only unique in their style of wine, but they are also different when it comes to vineyard management. The vines are trained to be closer to the ground, which helps create their own, microclimate.

That makes their microclimate slightly warmer, by about 1 degree Celsius than other neighboring vineyards. This additional factor also aids in the degree of ripeness and maturity for the grapes and the wine.

This is accomplished by using the cordon system, instead of the more, widely adopted Guyot method. The lower trellising provides enough of a leaf canopy for the grapes.

Something else that sets Tertre Roteboeuf apart from other vineyards in the appellation, they do not green harvest. The vine density is kept at 5,555 vines per hectare.

To produce the wine of Tertre Roteboeuf, Francois Mitjavile starts with his desire to pick late and to seek low yields. Vinification takes place in traditional, cement vats.

Malolactic fermentation takes place in barrels. At Tertre Roteboeuf, it is always good to remember that many things are unique, and that includes part of the aging process.

While most barrel-aging cellars are quite cool that is not the case here. Because the cellars are underground, cut into the limestone, they can be cool.

But here, they purposely warm the cellars to as high as 20 degrees Celsius, (68 degrees Fahrenheit) during the aging process, which they believe allows for better and earlier, integration between the new oak barrels and the wine.

Because this process adds more air, and in essence, also adds somewhat of an oxidized quality, at Tertre Roteboeuf, they think this allows for a longer, and more complex aging to take place in the bottle.

From personal experience, I believe this definitely helps the wine of Tertre Roteboeuf enter an earlier plateau of maturity, while also, providing pleasure and complexity in its youth. But perhaps, this shortens the aging curve to a minor degree as well.

Today, the wine of Tertre Roteboeuf is always aged in 100% new, French oak for 18 to 24 months. However, that was not always the case. For example in 1982, there was no new oak used. The wine was aged in vat and used oak barrels.

By 1985, the wines were being aged in 50% new, French oak barrels. While the wines are aged in 100% new oak, at Tertre Roteboeuf, they only use one type of oak barrel which is produced by Radoux.

The best vintages of Tertre Roteboeuf are: 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2012, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2005, 2003, 2001, 2000, 1998, 1990 and 1989. Older vintages should be approached with caution as they are not the same style of wine you find today.

While most Bordeaux wine is sold through negociants, that is not the case with Tertre Roteboeuf. They sell their wine outside the traditional negociant system and prefer to sell their wine direct to importers and merchants.

Interestingly, Tertre Roteboeuf goes their own way when it comes to the Saint Emilion Classification as well.

While they would easily be awarded Premier Cru Classe’ status, they prefer to remain unclassified. As the market sets the value and price, their decision has not hurt the wine as Tertre Roteboeuf remains one of the most expensive wines of the region.

When to Drink Tertre Roteboeuf, Anticipated Maturity, Decanting Time

Tertre Roteboeuf is much better with at least 8-10 years of aging in good vintages. Young vintages can be decanted for 2-3 hours or more

This allows the wine to soften and open its perfume. Older vintages might need very little decanting, just enough to remove the sediment. Tertre Roteboeuf offers its best drinking and should reach peak maturity between 10-30 years of age after the vintage.

Serving and Decanting Tertre Roteboeuf with Wine and Food Pairing Tips

Tertre Roteboeuf is best served at 15.5 degrees Celsius, 60 degrees Fahrenheit. The cool, almost cellar temperature gives the wine more freshness and lift.

Tertre Roteboeuf is best served with all types of classic meat dishes, veal, pork, beef, lamb, duck, game, roast chicken, roasted, braised, and grilled dishes. Tertre Roteboeuf is a perfect match with Asian dishes, hearty fish courses like tuna, salmon mushrooms, and pasta as well as cheese.

Tertre Roteboeuf Character and Style

Tertre Roteboeuf produces a unique style of Bordeaux wine from St. Emilion. There are a few reasons for this. First, there is no second wine.

The reason behind this according to François Mitjavile is, at Tertre Roteboeuf they are not only looking to produce the best wine possible. They also truly want each year to resemble the character of the vintage.

Ripe years should taste like fruit from ripe vintages. Lesser vintages should in turn, represent what the vineyards were able to do as well. In part, because the fruit is picked late, the wine of Tertre Roteboeuf offers a unique, powerful, crushed raspberry and mineral perfume, along with black cherry, licorice, and elements of kirsch.

The wine of Tertre Roteboeuf is rich, racy, and plush. With age, the wine develops exotic, opulent textures and aromatic qualities. However, it does not seem to make old bones. The wine might be best between 15 and 25 years of age, depending on the vintage.

The Mitjavile family owns two other Bordeaux properties; Domaine lAurage in Cotes de Castillon and Roc de Cambes in the appellation of Cotes de Bourg. LouisMitjavile and Caroline Mitjavile are completely in charge of the Cotes de Bordeaux property. You can expect to hear more about Louis Mitjavile as his consultancy business continues picking up more wineries.

 www.tertre-roteboeuf.com