Château Maison Noble's wines at the Fouquet’s Paris

Winegrowers’ Portraits Saint-Martin-du-Puy

Château Maison ’S wines
at the fouquet’s paris

a tasting for a bright future!

A new page is written in the history of the terroir. A vineyard created in 1345 has found new owners for its destiny. The team of Château Maison Noble headed by Vitali Pobujanschi, and managed by Bertrand Gonzalez, brilliantly starts 2014 by unveiling four of their cuvees and announcing a thoughtful strategy!

Philippe Faure-Brac, Meilleur Sommelier du Monde ; Patricia Orazio et Stéphanie De Parreja du Château Maison Noble ; Paolo Basso, Meilleur Sommelier du Monde 2013 ; Christian Rossi, directeur des achats du Fouquet's et Éric Allouche, directeur de la publication de SommelierS International.

The famous Parisian institution founded by Louis Fouquet in 1899 hosted on last January 27th a prestige tasting organized by SommelierS International with Philippe Faure-Brac as master of conviviality. In the beautiful Nimier private lounge of the Fouquet’s Barrière in Paris, an elegant table had been set up for some ten guests whose mission was to describe on a tasting sheet the sensations, impressions and emotions inspired by the wines they were served.



During the gourmet lunch prepared by Breton chef and best craftsman of France Jean-Yves Leuranguère, in presence of Christian Rossi, purchasing manager of the establishment, four cuvees have been submitted to the nose and palate of famous sommeliers, and to mention only a few: Paolo Basso, Julie and Gilles Bernard, Vincent Brécout, Marie-Noëlle Diosca, Georges Lepré, Sébastien Pradal, Franck Ramage, Alain Delort, Pierre Vila-Palleja... Each dish had been imagined to be combined in a perfect pairing with the selection stemming from the cellars of Château Maison Noble located in the Entre-Deux-Mers, at Saint-Martin-du-Puy.



After some delicate canapés and appetizers, everyone sat at the long table and could appreciate the procession under his fork: Marble of Duck Foie Gras, passion fruit jelly, fruit chutney and milk roll; Fillet of farm veal with Sichuan pepper, preserved vegetable, scents of undergrowth; Selection of cheese with salad; Tradition Fouquet’s Millefeuille, season sorbet.

The 2013 Best Sommelier of the World delicately described the first wine served: the 2013 Bordeaux Rosé Château Maison Noble crafted by Bertrand Gonzalez, the former cellar master who joined the domain in 2007 and now runs it. “A deep colour, with cherry-red shades, a beautiful olfac­tory intensity, raspberry jelly, wild strawberry, green pepper­corn. In the mouth, a pure, clean and vivid first taste, a lovely evolution with an elegant and very fine mid-palate. Spicy aromas of redcurrants in retro-olfaction. This wine is enough versatile to match semi-gastronomic cuisine”, Paolo Basso enthusiastically finished with to describe this Bor­deaux Rosé made of 20% Cabernet Sauvignon and 80% Cabernet Franc from a clay and limestone soil. The estate produces 43,000 bottles of this cuvee matured in stainless steel vats.

The red Bordeaux Château Jean de Bel Air, vintage 2012, is one of the first to have been bottled. It displayed “a crimson garnet-red hue, fatness and viscosity. An appealing nose, fresh, pure, fruity, with a sensation of black fruits, blackcur­rant skin, slightly spicy. A pure palate showing smoothness, supple tannins. It is rich with fruitiness and elegance, a spring­-like side which leads us to project ourselves”, Philippe Faure- Brac, 1992 Best Sommelier of the World, underlined about this wine matured in vats, made of 60% Merlot and 40% Cabernet Sauvignon, stemming from 30-year-old vines.
The second red wine to show its character was the 2011 Red Bordeaux Supérieur Château Maison Noble, a blend of 60% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Cabernet Franc. Many times awarded in 2013, this 2011 cuvee aged in barrels is produced on 20 hectares of vines at Saint-Martin-du-Puy. “A ruby-red colour of beautiful intensity that shows the blending in oak barrels, a nose with aromas of black­currant, rich and intense black fruits, green bell pepper and fresh plum, a soft and intense mid-palate with fine and ripe tannins in the aftertaste, a retro-olfaction that leaves a persistent smoky and peppery feeling. An easy approach, very supple tannins, to pair with country dishes or more sophis­ticated ones”, Paolo Basso declared.


Paolo Basso

At last, Georges Lepré did not disguise his pleasure to comment the straw-yellow and crystal-clear colour of the 2013 Entre-Deux-Mers Château Maison Noble suitable for cheese: “Some exotic fruits, pineapple, white blossom, a bit foamy, moderate ageing in wooden barrels for a vanilla- and cinnamon-scented touch. A vivid first taste, a good sali­vation, a delicious wine, a good volume in the mouth with melted alcohol, a nourishing and thirst-quenching wine, a rigorous length with aromas of citronella. It would be splen­did with a good creamy Roquefort or goat’s cheese…” Aged in vats and barrels, this 80% Sauvignon, 10% Sémillon and 10% Muscadelle wine is produced at 41,800 bottles. Its aromas are drawn from the clay and limestone soil of the 10 hectares of 25-year-old vines at Saint-Martin-du-Puy.


Stéphanie De Parreja

At the end of the lunch, Paolo Basso commented: “These products have a quite immediate approach, an extended understanding of a wine for a clientele made of young customers and more experienced palates. For a drink at noon or a Sunday meal, these cuvees are ready to be enjoyed young. The Entre-Deux-Mers is an underexploited region which still has an unexplored potential. For several years, the oeno­logists produce fresh, scented and savoury white wines there. The red Bordeaux is friendly and nearly dazzling. The White one exudes lovely scents and its quality-price ratio is just incredible!”


Philippe Faure-Brac

Thus a successful premiere for Château Maison Noble purchased in 2013 by a young foreign couple whose wife is a real wine lover, and especially of the white ones. Stéphanie de Pareja, in charge of the national business development, and Patricia Orazio, in charge of the marketing and communication of the estate, have been entrusted with the mission to represent them during this exceptional tasting.
This encounter enabled to unveil certain facets of a vineyard that has long belonged to Yvonne and Roger Pupovac before being taken over between 1997 and 2013 by Michel Pélissié. Now in the hands of a team of 14 persons, all fond of the earth and wine, the 75-hectare vineyard is conducted by Bertrand Gonzalez. The domain is opening to new prospects, is planning investments and wants to grow. The objective is to develop the range of white wines, to increase the renown of the estate and to make appreciate its products in the best establishments. With wines that have long been sold at the estate but also through mass-market retailing, the domain repositions its offer and opens up to new markets focusing more on the on-trade sector, being pre­sent in trade fairs and strong markets, like the festive period.
500,000 bottles leave each year the two cellars where each wine is vinified, matured and stored in different places. The domain bottles and labels each bottle of both properties located at Saint-Martin-du-Puy and Caumont.



The owner of the domain, a discreet woman who fell in love with France and the Entre-Deux-Mers region, prefers to bring her associates to the fore. And hence she entrusted Patricia and Stéphanie with the mission to open the reception hall and the 3 guest rooms (5 planned in total) created within the property located in the village of Caumont.
This rapidly accomplished project will enable, from April 2014, wine lovers to come and discover this exceptional estate whose team strives every day to reach excellence of the wine’s quality and share the lifestyle that goes with it.
Sarah Canonge / Photos : Kira Vygrivach

Château Maison Noble

1, Maison Noble
33540 Saint-Martin-du-Puy - France
Tél.: +33 (0) 5 56 71 86 53
www.chateaumaisonnoble.com