Liber Pater: the taste of Bordeaux wines like a treasure rediscovered from 1855

As a god of winemaking, Liber Pater is above all a passion for the terroir that emphasises 12,000 years of agricultural know-how and history. This is indeed the interesting proposition that Loïc Pasquet, a former Poitevin winemaker, launched at his Graves estate in 2006 with the main objective: to rediscover the taste of fine Bordeaux wines before phylloxera. To resist the industrialisation and standardisation of tastes, he decided to replant ancient grape varieties (Castet, Saint-Macaire, Tarnay-Coulant, etc.). There are no less than fourteen different autochthonous varietals that can be found on the estate’s 5-hectare vineyard in Landiras. The property does not use rootstocks and only works with ungrafted vines with only enough space between the rows for a mule to pass just like in the old days. The vineyard planting density is pushed to its maximum at 20,000 vines/hectare and the vines are trained with stakes, which is an unusual method for Bordeaux. Loïc Pasquet works the vineyards with the greatest respect for nature through permaculture (an agricultural method that uses sustainable and self-sufficient activities inspired from natural ecosystems): grass management, no chemical treatments, use of composts and natural fertilizers, reintroduction of natural bodies of water to replenish the vines, the increase of wildlife around the vineyard, etc. There is a limited production since the estate makes only an average of 1,000 to 1,500 each year, and only for exceptional vintages. Above all, the wines represent a traditional know-how with a unique taste: fresh, fruity and complex with a certain tension and a silky texture. Liber Pater wines are unique with an expression of terroir and a taste that we can rediscover from a different era. The estate illuminates a different image of Bordeaux wines.