The estate
On a winding country road, just to the north-west of the village of Saint-Émilion, stands Château Yon-Figeac. Built in 1886, the château is a classic example of the region’s architectural style: a limestone house flanked by 24 hectares of vines.
Video production : Crus et Domaines de France
Yon Figeac and art
Visitors to the estate are immediately struck by the two sculptures standing proudly on either side of the alley that leads to the Château. The result of a collaboration between artist Cécile Pitois and Château Yon-Figeac, these sculptures were designed and created especially for the estate.
The artist was inspired to convey the idea that “blending wines is all about balance and composition, adding and subtracting as necessary”.
Our craft and our wine
Each new season brings its share of work in the vineyard: pruning, leaf thinning, topping, green harvesting, ploughing the soil, the harvest, etc.
At Château Yon-Figeac, our primary focus in the vineyard is to ensure the quality of the vines and the grapes they produce. As such, it is essential that each and every action we take is tailored to our needs and the terroir. Work in the vineyard is primarily carried out manually, allowing for maximum precision. We also harvest the grapes by hand, over the course of September and early October.
Fermentation and ageing
The wines of Château Yon-Figeac are fermented in temperature-controlled, stainless-steel vats. The bespoke vats in our new vat room have been created in just the right sizes to allow us to ferment the grapes from each plot separately.
Once fermentation is complete, the various batches are aged separately in our barrel cellar. The wines that will make up our Grand Vin (first wine) are aged exclusively in French oak barrels. Those destined for the estate’s second wine are aged in foudres (large casks) to limit the impact of the oak on the wine’s flavours and aromatic profile.
The wines are left to age in barrel for around a year.
Environmental practices
At Château Yon-Figeac we have been using sustainable agricultural methods since 2011 and adopting a winemaking philosophy that is more respectful of the environment and the people working in the vineyard all year round. Château Yon-Figeac has been ISO 14001-certified and a member of the first EMS association in the Bordeaux wine sector since 2013, and HEV 3-certified since the 2016 vintage.
