Domaine de l’A A Legendary Bordeaux Pair & Their ‘A’ Reference-Point Boutique
1999 heralded a new dawn for Stéphane and Christine Derenoncourt. Along with exchanging marriage vows, the renowned winemakers also launched their joint consulting firm, later taking on illustrious names like California’s Inglenook and Saint-Emilion Grand Cru Château Pavie-Macquin. It is also the year they purchased their first parcels of vines in the village of Saint-Colombe in Bordeaux’s Castillon region.
Domaine de l’A. The name itself is a nod to Stéphane and Christine’s new beginnings, anchored around the letter A and winking at all that would come of their ambitious endeavor. Stéphane and Christine set out to cultivate iconic, Grand Cru-rivaling wines from Saint-Colombe for a fine wine-fair price. And there can be little wonder about the driving forces behind the estate’s success. Aside from the free-thinking, creative mavericks at the helm, Domaine de l’A sits atop the same limestone shelf as its stalwart neighbor, Saint-Emilion, giving the wines strikingly similar finesse and voluptuousness.
Long-time champions of biodynamic and organic viticulture, Stéphane and Christine keep the yields of their merlot and cabernet franc vines meticulously low (barely 27 hectoliters per hectare, even in bumper-crop years). The wines have, unsurprisingly, become reference points — not just for the rising star of Castillon and Sainte-Colombe, but across Bordeaux.
Terroir
As Stéphane and Christine are both free thinkers, Domaine de l’A is a culmination of their ideas on vine growing and how to best reveal the identity of their precious terroir. The estate lies in the Bordeaux district of Saint-Colombe, the eastern slopes of which are adjacent to those of the illustrious Saint-Emilion region. The soils are a continuation of the highly sought-after calcareous limestone vein that is shared by most Grands Crus and prestigious estates in Saint-Emilion — thus Saint-Colombe wines, like those of Domaine de l’A, often have a similar elegance and finesse to wines from Saint-Emilion. The majority of Domaine de l’A’s vines are planted on a south-facing slope with tuffeau limestone soil, to which Stéphane attributes their wines’ distinctive floral aroma.
Viticulture
Domaine de l’A cultivates 11 hectares / 27 acres of vines. The vineyard is composed of 80% merlot and 20% cabernet franc, and the average age of the vines is 55 years old. Since 2018, the estate has been in organic conversion, and Stéphane and Christine are steadfast advocates for sustainable farming practices. They have an uncompromising production philosophy: short pruning, small yields, and worked soil — a method highly inspired by biodynamic farming. All the grapes are hand-picked and sorted immediately in the vineyard, before an additional sorting in the winery, which ensures only the best-quality fruit makes it into the wines.
Domaine de l’A Wines: A Tale Told by Fruit & Earth
Domaine de l’A practices traditional Bordeaux winemaking techniques. Alcoholic fermentation (exclusively by indigenous yeasts) is carried out in oak cask before a 16- to 18-month slumber in barrel. The estate’s signature release is all about the tale told by the fruit, through the lens of those famous limestone tuffeau soils. The wine has plenty of backbone, along with plush fruit flavors, supple, velvety tannins, and a heady finish that lingers on and on.
