A family
The history of the von Neipperg family has been intertwined with winegrowing since the 13th century...
Stephan von Neipperg currently manages the Bordeaux estates acquired by his father in the early 1970s with talent and enthusiasm.
The upcoming generation, also deeply attached to the terroir, is preparing to perpetuate the family vocation!
Discover their desire to continue the family tradition
Estates
Stephan's father, Count Joseph-Hubert von Neipperg, acquired Château Canon La Gaffelière and La Mondotte in 1971, followed by Clos de l’Oratoire and Château Peyreau a few months later.
Stephan von Neipperg took over management in 1985. He and his winemaking teams are determined to produce wine at these estates that is worthy of their pedigree, while continuing to explore other terroirs...
An ecological approach
Stephan von Neipperg's in-depth, uncompromising analysis of the situation at Canon La Gaffelière as soon as he arrived was based on a winemaking philosophy calling for respect for individual terroirs and the desire to find the best possible natural balance in each ecosystem.
Applied since the late 1990s, his ecological approach has, over time, perpetuated healthy vines for future generations. This idea of permanence and handing on something precious to his family is of utmost importance to Stephan von Neipperg.
HIGHLIGHTS
Skydetect: the vineyard's sentinel
In our Region, summer means sometimes storms and even hail on occasion. In order to fight those devastating events, detecting the risk of hail in advance is highly required to trigger the active fighting and protection systems at the right time.
That’s why the Skydetect technology has been installed in Clos de l’Oratoire, which hosts the first radar in Aquitaine. Clos de l’Oratoire’s vineyard is located on the north-eastern slope of Saint-Emilion where hail can make big damages.
Thanks to this new technology, all the winemakers having vines 30 km around the radar can benefit from the high precision detection and analysis made by the system which is able to precisely detect a storm cell formation at a farm-scale level and to give warning (via SMS or email) of the risk of hail well before the phenomenon takes place. Thus the winemakers know where and when they have to activate their protection system (balloons, wave canons, seeding techniques by rocket,…).
In the Comtes von Neipperg’s vineyards, balloons have been choosen. This active fight against hail is quiet and non-polluting. The system uses dedicated torches carried in hazardous clouds by intelligent balloons inflated with helium. For more details, click here.
First growths and certifiably organic? Yes, this is possible in Bordeaux!
The 2014 vintage will have finished barrel ageing in a few short weeks...
A look at the first certifiably organic vintage for Château Canon La Gaffelière and La Mondotte.
Stephan von Neipperg's far-reaching and uncompromising analysis of the situation as soon as he arrived at Canon La Gaffelière was based on respect for the various terroirs and his desire to find the best possible natural balance for their ecosystems.
His deeply ecological approach, applied since 1988 has, over time, perpetuated healthy vines for future generations. This idea of permanence and handing on something precious is of utmost importance to Stephan von Neipperg.
Close observation and taking into account various environmental aspects of each plot meant that viticultural practices could be adapted accordingly. Work in the vineyard is done according to the profile of each individual plot.
Observation and analysis are the mainstays of Vignobles Comtes von Neipperg, who appointed a person in charge of research and development as early as 2006.
2014 is the culmination of many years spent enhancing biodiversity and microbial life in the soil. This ultimately led to organic certification (FR-BIO-10) for Château Canon La Gaffelière and La Mondotte.
Both estates also obtained ISO 14001 certification as part of an Environmental Management System.
At the present time, Château Canon La Gaffelière and La Mondotte are the only red Premier Grand Crus Classé wines to be certifiably organic.
New vats for Aiguilhe
New fermentation vats were introduced to Château d’Aiguilhe for the 2015 vintage.
It was decided to acquire truncated cone-shaped concrete vats similar to the existing oak ones.
Like the wooden vats, the new ones provide very good thermal inertial conducive to the sort of slow, gentle fermentation favoured by Vignobles Comtes von Neipperg.
The 9 new vats add to the impressive 19 oak vats currently in use, as well as the stainless steel vats used for the second wines.
These new vats should make it easy to separately ferment grapes from the various plots of this 50-hectare estate located on the clay-limestone plateau in the Castillon Côtes de Bordeaux appellation.