Chateau Rochebelle St. Emilion Bordeaux, Completer Guide

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

Chateau Rochebelle History, Overview

Chateau Rochebelle is located next to some very good neighbors. They are just down the road from Chateau Troplong Mondot, Chateau Barde Haut, and not that far from Tertre Roteboeuf.

The Saint Emilion estate has been owned and managed by the Faniest family since 1847. However, Chateau Rochebelle is even older the inception of the vineyard dates back to at least some point in the 1700s.

The Faniest family is perhaps better known for owning one of the most popular, tourist attractions in St. Emilion. They own the little train that travels through the town and some of the vineyards that runs 7 days a week.

Much better than the local, tourist-oriented train, if you have the chance to visit Chateau Rochebelle, the property has a fabulous series of underground limestone caves and quarries they use as their barrel cellars that are well worth seeing during your visit. It is well worth arranging for a visit.

In fact, that is where the name Chateau Rochebelle comes from, as the name is translated into beautiful stones, which is referring to the rocks pulled from the underground quarries in the 1700s at the estate.

Chateau Rochebelle Vineyards, Terroir, Grapes, Winemaking

The small, 3 hectare St. Emilion vineyard of Chateau Rochebelle is planted to 85% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc. They have old vines, which are on average 45 years of age. The vineyard is planted to a vine density of 6,000 vines per hectare. The terroir is limestone and clay soils on sloping hillsides that at their peak reaches up to 94 meters.

Chateau Rochebelle is vinified in traditional, temperature-controlled, red and white-colored, square, concrete vats and aged in French, oak barrels for between 15 and 18 months.

The Best Vintages of Chateau Rochebelle are: 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2010, 2009 and 2005. Beginning with the 2020 vintage, the level of quality at Chateau Rochebelle made a big leap up.

On average, between 1,200 and 1,500 cases of Chateau Rochebelle are produced every year, depending on the vintage. Michel Rolland was replaced by Thomas Duclos as their consultant.

When to Drink Chateau Rochebelle, Anticipated Maturity, Decanting Time

Chateau Rochebelle is better with at least 3-4 years of bottle age. Of course, that can vary slightly, depending on the vintage. Chateau Rochebelle is best enjoyed in the first 3-12 years of life.

Young vintages can be decanted for about 1 hour. This allows the wine to soften and open its perfume. Older vintages might need very little decanting, just enough to remove the sediment.

Serving Chateau Rochebelle, with Wine and Food Pairings

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

Chateau Rochebelle is best paired with all types of classic meat dishes, veal, pork, beef, lamb, duck, game, roast chicken, roasted, braised, and grilled dishes. Chateau Rochebelle is also good when matched with Asian dishes, rich fish courses like tuna, mushrooms, and pasta.

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