Chateau Godeau St. Emilion Bordeaux, Complete Guide

Learn everything about Chateau Godeau St. Emilion with wine tasting notes, wine, and food pairing tips, 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

Chateau Godeau History, Overview

Chateau Godeau has good neighbors in Saint Emilion. In fact, Chateau Godeau is located on the slopes of St. Emilion only a stone’s throw from Tertre Roteboeuf. They are also just around the bend from Chateau Troplong Mondot. In fact, a portion of their vineyard is also not too far from Chateau Pavie.

Chateau Godeau as a quality wine producer in St. Emilion is a recent phenomenon. The change in the wine and winemaking at Chateau Godeau started in 2007, when the chateau was purchased by Steve Filipov.

It took him only a few short years to get everything going in the right direction. Chateau Godeau once again changed hands in late 2012 when the Right Bank estate was sold to Agnes and Alberic Florisoone.

Agnes Florisoone and Alberic Florisoone were previously partial owners of Chateau Calon Segur in St. Estephe, which was also sold in 2012, in the largest transaction to take place in Bordeaux that year.

Chateau Godeau Vineyards, Terroir, Grapes, Winemaking

The 5.65-hectare Chateau Godeau vineyard is planted to 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc. This is a change in the vineyard as previous vintages had a lot more Cabernet in the vineyard. The vineyard has a terroir of clay and limestone terroir soils.

The vines are planted to a vineyard density of 6,000 vines per hectare. The average age of the vines is about 35 years. The vineyard of Chateau Godeau is farmed using only sustainable farming techniques.

To produce the wine of Chateau Godeau, after intense sorting, whole berry fermentation takes place in temperature-controlled, stainless steel tanks. The fruit sees a one-month maceration period. Extraction is done by pigeage. They do not do any pumping over.

Malolactic fermentation takes place in barrels. For the first six months of the aging, the wine remains on its lees. The wine is aged in an average of 50% new, French oak barrels.

Chateau Godeau is a Saint Emilion property to watch as it offers good style, character and the best part is, the wine sells for a fair price. Plus it drinks well young too!

Since Stephane Derenoncourt signed on as their consultant starting with the 2009 vintage, things have been steadily improving in the vineyards and with the wine.

The best vintages of Chateau Godeau are: 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2010, 2009 and 2005.

Earlier vintages are not as interesting and should be avoided. But out of almost 300 wines tasted from 2009, Chateau Godeau was one of the best Bordeaux wine values from the entire Bordeaux appellation. The production is on average close to 2,400 cases per vintage. The property also produces two second wines, Les Escapades de Godeau and Godeau Ducarpe.

When to Drink Chateau Godeau, Anticipated Maturity, Decanting Time

Chateau Godeau is better with at least 4-6 years of bottle age. Of course, that can vary slightly, depending on the vintage. Chateau Godeau is best enjoyed in the first 5-15 years of life.

Young vintages can be decanted for about 1 hour or so. 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 Godeau with Wine and Food Pairings

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

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

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