Château Haut Piquat, owned by Jean Pierre Rivière, enjoys a beautiful environment. The beautiful golden stone house sits atop a small hill and has just been restored in a particularly successful manner.
Just before entering the quiet town of Lussac, Château Haut Piquat is isolated from the rest of the world by huge trees. With its excellent neoclassical harmony, this house with reasonable velvet dimensions opens on the terraces of 'à la française'. It also overlooks the 30-hectare vineyard, planted on plateaus and slopes with a slate and clay base. The viewing position offers the best sun exposure to this estate. The division of the noble grape varieties is harmonious: 75% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon and 15% Cabernet Franc.
Jean Pierre RIVIERE bought this vineyard in the 1970s and immediately provided special care such as picking in crates, maturing in oak barrels, one third of which is new every three years, ensuring the quality of the average 200,000 bottles produced every year. Step by step, more investments and equipment work have made it increasingly modern: a new freezer was created in 1986 and equipped with a temperature control system, a storage corner in 1989, and a comfortable tasting room was added.
The entire production is bottled in the castle, and Haut Piquat wine is known for its generosity, beautiful color and great finesse; its quality is regularly reviewed by numerical medals. The wine is sold in the best French restaurants and is sold by their own company, along with the other Maison Rivière wines.
Jean-Pierre Rivière and his team make every effort to produce wines that are in accordance with the territory of Lussac Saint Emilion and use all its wealth. Passion expressed in the grapes, know-how acquired year after year, guided by the pursuit of quality in the purest respect for tradition.
With an area of 1 454 hectares, the vineyards of the Lussac Saint-Emilion are planted with valleys and high plateaus. The central part of Lussac Saint-Emilion is a chalk plateau covered with a thin layer of Perigord sand. The hills to the south are mostly clay and limestone, but more silty clay to the north
The Saint-Emilion region benefits from the temperate maritime climate typical of the Bordeaux region. The general climate is particularly good for wine growing, as it is characterized by moderate temperature differences between summer and winter, with an annual average temperature of 12.8 ° C, with rainfall well distributed throughout the year. Hot summers, warm autumns and protection of the Dordogne and the island from the risk of frost, these factors all promote a perfect ripening of the fruit. However, this microclimate remains subject to climatic variations. From year to year, the differences in temperature and rainfall can be significant. The variation between wines of different vintages - an important characteristic of Bordeaux wines - is the result of this variability. Wine is often the best indicator of a given year's climatic conditions.
