Presentation

Brumont, today. The wines of a dream

"Alain Brumont has one ambition: that his actions as a winegrower are reflected in his wines. A tireless explorer of Gascon terroirs, promoter of local grape varieties, a gardener who lovingly tends his vines, a winemaker who is respectful of cultural roots, he is South-West France's leading wine producer, both in the Madiran and Parenchec du Vic Bilh appellations and in the Côtes de Gascogne. He has achieved his ambition: Bouscassé, Montus and Torus have become icons in the world of fine wines, and each vintage is an expression of his dream." Pierre Casamayor

The man Alain Brumont among the greatest winemaker

Elected among the 10 greatest wines in the world, Alain Brumont has rehabilitated ancient terroirs abandoned for nearly 50 years.

1979
Alain Brumont inherits his father's 17 hectare vineyard: Château Bouscassé.

1980
Alain Brumont buys Château Montus. It was at this point that he decided that the Tannat grape had the potential to make outstanding wines.

1985
First vintage of Montus Prestige. The first Madiran to be made from 100% Tannat and to be aged entirely in new barrels; it is dubbed the "Petrus of Madiran" by top international tasters. Thanks to this Prestige cuvée, a qualitative revolution takes place in Madiran, and the appellation is propelled to the ranks of France's finest. Madiran regains all its nineteenth century splendour.

1988
Construction of the underground barrel cellar at Château Bouscassé (1200 m²). It is the first cellar of this type to be built in the South

1990
Always looking for new terroirs, Alain Brumont finds a perfectly located 10 hectare hillside covered in large pebbles, providing ideal conditions for the Tannat grape; it is from this plot that he will produce Montus La Tyre, the finest Madiran ever made!

1991
Alain Brumont is rewarded with the title of Best French Winegrower of the 1980s by French magazine "Gault-Millau", and several articles in the press rank him among the world's top winemakers.

1995
Construction of a new winery at Château Montus, baptized the "Tannat Cathedral"!

  • The Brumont method

    o1.

    Water, Tending the soil, Maintaining the landscape

    Without any industry or towns of any size to pollute the air or water for 100 kilometres around, the vines benefit from an ideal environment in which Alain Brumont is able to apply his method: through observation, experiments of all kinds, and this desire to enhance the terroir, and draw out all of its substance, the vineyard is given expression, and very Great Wines are made.

  • The Brumont method

    o2.

    The vineyards are on the tops of the hills

    Each plot separated by a wood. This prevents any form of contamination from spreading. Expanses of several thousand hectares of vines all adjoining one another are massively contaminated and often negatively influenced by neighbouring growing methods. "I'm one of the few who do not use insecticides". Alain Brumont

  • The Brumont method

    o3.

    The exclusive use of spring water from the forest covered hills

    The exclusive use of spring water from the forest covered hills, unpolluted due to Gascony's superb, ideal environment.

  • The Brumont method

    o4.

    The preservation of natural flora

    Excessive ploughing or weeding, that results in a depletion and sterilization of the soil. Two thirds of the surface of Alain Brumont's vineyard is covered by ancient varieties of flora. They are protected and only cut when they have finished producing seeds, thereby ensuring that these millennia-old varieties continue to survive. The value of this conservation is that the soil's

  • The Brumont method

    o5.

    An alignment of the rows with the sun at 3 pm

    So that both sides of the bunches receive equal quantities of sunshine. A bunch that has 100% contact with the sun develops greater quality. It has to sweat, like an athlete, 100 to 300 times more than a bunch protected by leaves. At 3 pm, the sun is at its highest, vertically above the foliage, giving the bunches two hours to cool down, thereby preventing them from becoming

  • The Brumont method

    o6.

    Work is carried out on each bunch of grapes

    Each bunch is the subject of various, very precise operations. First, the buds are counted and those with the same vigour are selected so that flowering is uniform and virtually simultaneous, rather than spread over 8 days; the grapes then ripen at the same time rather than over two weeks. Next there is an initial leaf removal, before flowering, to get the grapes used to strong sunshine. A

Terroir
 Discover our different terroirs

White Clay - Château Bouscassé

White Clay Château Bouscassé

Red clay - Château Bouscassé

Red clay Château Bouscassé

Limestone - Castle Montus

Limestone Castle Montus

Rolled pebbles - Château Montus

Rolled pebbles Château Montus

Roche «Grep»: Assembly of pebbles and clay - Château Bouscassé

Roche «Grep»:
Assembly of pebbles and clay Château Bouscassé

Brown Clay - Bouscassé Castle

Brown Clay Bouscassé Castle

Variegated clay - Château Bouscassé

Variegated clay Château Bouscassé

La Vinification

Nourish the imagination of the taster by telling a story, that of a man, a place, a land, a civilization ... to provide taste sensations, olfactory or tactile. These are the stakes of winemaking. The art of composing the ideal partition between grape varieties and soils and giving to its wine that extra soul that will make it an exceptional and unique wine.

The second phase is more technical.

The terroirs and the grape varieties must be in harmony. To achieve this, we start by tasting the grape juice before picking them and by observing their colour. For a long time this method was ridiculed by the oenology institutes who sent us their future oenologists. Today, this is the method that oenologists use! Tasting the juice gives you an awareness of the various balances; you can begin to classify the terroirs and get an idea of the possibilities for blending different plots.