Château Tertre Roteboeuf 1987

Tasting characteristics and advice for Château Tertre Roteboeuf 1987

Tasting

Color

The color reveals a deep red hue with evolving highlights, reflecting the vintage’s maturity.

Nose

Elegant, the nose opens on dominant aromas of raisins, accompanied by subtle notes of cherry. With aeration, the bouquet reveals lovely aromatic complexity that remains expressive despite the years.

Palate

On the palate, the wine is rounded and delicate, unfurling flavors of grape fruit and spiced raspberry. The silky texture and refined balance lead into a persistent finish that pleasantly extends the tasting experience.

Food and wine pairings

This wine pairs perfectly with red meats prepared Bordelaise-style, notably a bone-in ribeye with marrow. It also matches dishes featuring noble mushrooms such as porcini or truffles, as well as herb-roasted lamb. Game birds and aged cheeses also make excellent pairings.

Serving and cellaring

Château Tertre Roteboeuf 1987 has reached full maturity and is best enjoyed now. Decanting for one hour helps aerate the wine and reveal all its aromatic complexity. Serve at a temperature of 16 to 18°C.

An elegant, refined Saint-Émilion Grand Cru by François Mitjavile

The estate

Located in Saint-Laurent-des-Combes within the Saint-Émilion appellation, Château Tertre Roteboeuf covers 6 hectares of hillside vineyards on south/southeast-facing clay-limestone slopes. Taken over in the late 1970s by François Mitjavile, who now runs the estate with his wife Émilie, the property stands out for its artisanal approach to viticulture: very low-trained vines, cover crops, late hand harvesting, yeast-free vinification, and extended aging in new barrels, revealing the most accomplished expression of Bordeaux’s hillside wines.

The vineyard

The vineyard of Château Tertre Roteboeuf enjoys an exceptional location in Saint-Émilion, laid out like an amphitheater on clay-limestone slopes with a south-southeast exposure. This configuration enables optimal ripening of the grapes thanks to maximum sunshine. The clay-limestone soils give the wine its distinctive mineral structure. Vineyard management favors deliberately limited yields and low pruning to concentrate the expression of the fruit.

The vintage

The 1987 vintage in Bordeaux was marked by moderate weather conditions. The year posed challenges for winegrowers, with variable weather requiring rigorous vineyard and harvest management. Despite these conditions, demanding producers such as François Mitjavile were able to make the most of their exceptional terroir and strict viticultural practices to craft elegant, well-balanced wines.

Winemaking and aging

For Château Tertre Roteboeuf 1987, the grapes are harvested at very high ripeness, resulting in concentrated fruit with complex aromas. Vinification features high-temperature fermentations to maximize aromatic extraction. Aging takes place in French oak barrels, half of which are new, for around 22 months. This approach allows for harmonious oak integration and the development of the wine’s complexity.

Grape varieties

Merlot and Cabernet Franc.