Château Viella

History of the Estate

The sumptuous Château Viella was built in 1763 in the Gers by the Marquis de Viella, lord of several lands in the region. He was forced to abandon his home in 1789, fleeing abroad to protect himself from the French Revolution. However, upon his return eleven years later, he bought the castle and bequeathed it to his niece, Miss de Montastruc. After his death, the castle and its lands were sold. It passed from one hand to another, ending up in the hands of Pierre Bortolussi, a northern Italian, in 1952.

It is to Pierre's grandson, Alain, that we owe the current reputation of Château Viella. Indeed, when he arrived in 1991, the wine production was intended for sale to merchants. He undertook a progressive replacement of the vines, then of average quality, installed a bottling and labeling line and then acquired high quality wine-making equipment, in order to produce qualitative vintages specific to the domain.

In 2003, Alain decided to take on the ambitious challenge of renovating Château Viella, which was then abandoned and overgrown. Once finished, he set up a fun pedestrian path through the vineyards and ending at the foot of the building, so that visitors could discover the new face of the castle.

Alain's two daughters, Claire and Marion, returned to the chateau in 2016 to embody the fourth generation of winemakers in their family: Marion, a graduate in viticulture-oenology, is in charge of work in the vineyard and in the cellars, while Claire embodies the management-commercial arm.

Terroir

This estate is located in the Vic-Bilh terroirs, in the pre-Pyrenean relief of Gascony, in the Madiran and Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh appellations. This region has been producing wine at least since Roman times, but it is the religious congregations, from the 11th century onwards, that are at the origin of its wine development.

The geography of the Madiran AOC region, including that of Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh, is divided into four lines of ridges, ranging from 180 to 300 meters in altitude. It is on these ridges that the winegrowers have planted their vineyards. They produce indifferently on these lands the AOC Madiran in red, or Pacherenc du Vic Bilh in white.

The soil of the vineyard of Château Viella, located on the second ridge, facing south, southeast, is very complete. The vines are planted on a clay soil, so the main quality is the good retention of water, allowing the vine to be hydrated throughout the vegetative cycle and then ensuring a long maturation. Also, this clay soil is composed of a multitude of pebbles, alluviated by the Pyrenees. These pebbles, contrary to clay, warm the vineyard. Indeed, they store the heat during the day and give it back to the vine at night, leading to a higher concentration of the grapes during their maturation. Finally, the vineyard of Château Viella enjoys many exposures, allowing the grapes to produce wines with different styles. We find in the vineyard the flagship grape varieties of the South-West, such as tannat, cabernet franc and cabernet sauvignon for the red, and petit manseng, gros manseng and arrufiac for the white.

Vineyard management and commitments

The vineyard has been certified since 2017 High Environmental Value level 3. This certifies that the elements of biodiversity are very largely present on the farm and that the pressure of agricultural practices on the environment is reduced to a minimum.

Wines

The Château offers three different red wines in the Madiran AOC.

The entry level, the Tradition cuvée is, as its name suggests, a faithful representative of the wines of the appellation: dark ruby color, powerful aromas of red and black fruits, enhanced by spicy notes, acquired thanks to the aging of part of the production in barrels. On the palate, it presents smooth flavors balanced between freshness and roundness.

Cuvée Symbiose is more modern: a 100% tannat without sulfur aged in full-bodied concrete vats, fleshy and with very intense fruity notes.

The Prestige cuvée is the top of the range of the house. This Madiran 100% tannat comes from the oldest vines of the estate and benefits from a very good exposure to the Pyrenees ensuring an optimal maturation. With its deep garnet color, almost black, this Madiran has an intense and complex nose of ripe fruit jams accentuated by vanilla notes, due to the long maturation in new barrels (12 to 18 months). On the palate, it is an explosion of ample, smooth and persistent flavors, balanced by a beautiful freshness and present but greedy tannins.

In white, the Château offers three vintages in AOC Pacherenc du Vic Bilh.

The first, a dry white, entitled Séraphin, is made up of 60% gros manseng, 20% petit manseng and 20% arrufiac. This wine is vinified with the aim of preserving as much as possible the primary aromatic characteristics of the grape variety. We thus have a wine in the air of time, with a very pure fruitiness, presenting notably notes of citrus and fresh fruit.

The second, the Louise d'Aure vintage, is a mellow wine made of petit and gros manseng. In the same spirit as the Séraphin cuvée, the aim here is to preserve the fruit: the vinification is therefore gentle and the maturing is done in neutral containers: stainless steel vats. This sweet wine has a beautiful pale gold color. On the nose, aromas of exotic fruits, citrus fruits and fresh fruits predominate. On the palate, the sweetness is balanced by a nice freshness and a slightly acidic finish.

The third, the mellow Eminence, is composed solely of petit manseng. This wine, in rather confidential production, is made from vines of 40 years old on average: the yields are therefore low but the grapes extremely concentrated, thus complexifying the aromatic palette. On the nose, powerful notes of jammy exotic fruits dominate, accompanied by aromas of citrus and dried fruits. On the palate, this wine is very rich and has a touch of freshness: the finish is exceptionally long!