François Mitjavile built Tertre Roteboeuf around late harvesting, low yields, concrete fermentation, new French oak, and oxidative ageing after beginning his wine career at Château Figeac in 1975.
The producer
## At A Glance
François Mitjavile is the Bordeaux producer behind Tertre Roteboeuf, a six-hectare vineyard in southeastern Saint-Émilion planted to 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc. Late harvesting, low yields, temperature-controlled concrete fermentation, 18 months in 100% new French oak, and oxidative ageing define the estate's red wine. Tertre Roteboeuf remains deliberately unclassified despite qualifying for Premier Cru status.
## The Producer
Mitjavile began his winemaking career at Château Figeac in 1975 under Thierry Manoncourt. For the inaugural vintage of his own estate in 1977, he renamed the property Tertre Roteboeuf. The name gathered the vineyard, the blend, and his cellar decisions under one label.
The estate is built around ripe grapes and low yields. Merlot makes up 80% of the planting, while Cabernet Franc accounts for 20%, with some vines approaching 50 years of age.
## Place
Tertre Roteboeuf lies in southeastern Saint-Émilion, where a hillside vineyard places limestone, clay, and natural drainage beneath mature Merlot and Cabernet Franc. The place supports late harvesting and a ripe, concentrated red wine, while the blend keeps Cabernet Franc visible beside the dominant Merlot.
Tertre Roteboeuf is the estate name Mitjavile adopted in 1977 and the principal bottle associated with his work. The label connects one named vineyard with one blend and one defined cellar method.
## Soil And Site
The vineyard sits on a hillside slope with limestone and clay-based soils in one large block. Natural drainage supports a late harvest, allowing the grapes to remain on the vines as they reach full ripeness. Average vine age is 40 years, and some Cabernet Franc vines approach 50 years.
The site enters the wine through ripe fruit and concentration, while the mixed planting keeps the Cabernet Franc component substantial enough to remain part of the estate's profile.
## Story
Mitjavile moved from his family's haulage business and law studies in Paris to Château Figeac, then into his own renamed estate. His working choices followed that change: late picking and low yields in the vineyard, concrete fermentation in the cellar, new French oak for ageing, and oxidative development before bottling.
He also rejected Bordeaux's formal classification for Tertre Roteboeuf, despite the estate qualifying for Premier Cru status. The wine therefore carries no classification line to describe its place in the hierarchy. Its label leaves the vineyard, blend, harvest timing, and ageing method in view.
## Vineyards And Cellar
Late harvesting allows the grapes to reach full ripeness and develop more concentrated flavours. Low yields reduce the crop carried by each vine, placing concentration at the start of the process.
The grapes ferment in temperature-controlled concrete tanks. The wine then ages for 18 months in 100% new French oak, giving oak a clear role beside the ripe fruit from the late harvest. Mitjavile uses oxidative ageing instead of reductive ageing, bringing the wines to a stable stage of development by bottling.
## Wines
Tertre Roteboeuf is the principal documented wine, a red blend led by Merlot with 20% Cabernet Franc. Its range position brings together ripe fruit, concentrated flavour, limestone and clay, late harvesting, low yields, concrete fermentation, new French oak, acidity, tannin, and a dry finish.
Roc de Cambes belongs to the wider Mitjavile estate group and adds another named Bordeaux wine to the family story. Its exact blend is not established here, so it remains separate from the Tertre Roteboeuf recipe. Domaine de l'Aurage is managed by Louis Mitjavile and extends the family connection across Bordeaux, while the available detail does not support a fuller range description.
## In The Glass
Ripe fruit rises first from Tertre Roteboeuf, a consequence of late harvesting and the majority Merlot planting. New French oak follows with a darker, toasted register after 18 months in barrel.
On the palate, concentrated fruit gives weight, acidity keeps the wine moving, and tannin gathers through the middle and finish. Cabernet Franc supplies a second line beneath the Merlot. Oxidative ageing brings the wine to bottling in a stable stage, leaving fruit, oak, and dry tannin in sequence at the close.
## A Bottle To Understand It
Begin with Tertre Roteboeuf. It is the named estate wine from southeastern Saint-Émilion, made from 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc grown on limestone and clay. Late harvesting supplies ripe, concentrated fruit; concrete fermentation controls the cellar work; 18 months in new French oak adds an unmistakable oak frame; oxidative ageing brings the wine to a stable stage before bottling.
In the glass, look for ripe fruit carried by acidity, held by tannin, and surrounded by oak. This one bottle gathers the vineyard, blend, harvest choice, and ageing method into a clear introduction to Mitjavile's work.
## Anecdote
François Mitjavile began in his family's haulage company, then went to Paris to study law. Neither path became his wine career. In 1975, he knocked on the door of Château Figeac, where Thierry Manoncourt admitted him and gave him his first winemaking role. Two years later, for the inaugural vintage of his own winery, Mitjavile changed the property name from Le Terte to Le Tertre Roteboeuf. The new name followed the wine into the cellar and onto the label, while the estate settled around a hillside vineyard planted to 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc in southeastern Saint-Émilion.
## Final Word
Tertre Roteboeuf keeps its vineyard, blend, harvest timing, concrete fermentation, new oak, and oxidative ageing visible in the bottle. Its deliberate rejection of formal classification leaves those physical choices to carry the label. Start with Tertre Roteboeuf, then approach Roc de Cambes and Domaine de l'Aurage as separate parts of the Mitjavile family story.
Tertre Roteboeuf, an 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc red wine shaped by late harvesting, low yields, concrete fermentation, 18 months in 100% new French oak, oxidative ageing, and deliberate non-classification.
Notable facts
Mitjavile began his winemaking career at Château Figeac in 1975 under Thierry Manoncourt.
He renamed the estate Tertre Roteboeuf for its 1977 inaugural vintage.
The vineyard is planted to 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc, with 40-year average vine age and some Cabernet Franc vines approaching 50 years.
The hillside vineyard has limestone and clay-based soils with natural drainage.
The wine uses late harvesting, low yields, temperature-controlled concrete fermentation, 18 months in 100% new French oak, and oxidative ageing.
The story
The Forgotten Harvest
When Mitjavile took over the slope at Tertre Rôteboeuf, the vineyard had been worked for yield and sold in bulk — standard practice for unclassified Saint-Émilion land. He walked the four hectares, tasted the grapes through the growing season, and made a decision his neighbours found impractical: he would not pick until the Merlot skins felt genuinely ready, not merely ripe by appellation norms. In the first years under his management he was still harvesting in late October when the rest of Saint-Laurent-des-Combes had been finished for weeks. A local négociant asked whether he had simply forgotten to pick. He had not forgotten. That autumn, in the cellar, the wine was dark and dense, with tannins the slope's earlier-picked fruit had never produced.
From the atlas
François Mitjavile
At A Glance
François Mitjavile is the Bordeaux producer behind Tertre Roteboeuf, a six-hectare vineyard in southeastern Saint-Émilion planted to 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc. Late harvesting, low yields, temperature-controlled concrete fermentation, 18 months in 100% new French oak, and oxidative ageing define the estate's red wine. Tertre Roteboeuf remains deliberately unclassified, despite qualifying for Premier Cru status.
The Producer
Mitjavile began his winemaking career at Château Figeac in 1975, apprenticed under Thierry Manoncourt, and carried that training into his own estate. For the inaugural vintage in 1977, he renamed the property Tertre Roteboeuf. The change turned a property name into a bottle name, with the vineyard, the blend, and his cellar decisions gathered under one label.
His work is built around ripe grapes and low yields. Merlot supplies 80% of the planting, while Cabernet Franc makes up the remaining 20%, including vines that can approach 50 years of age. The wine carries the imprint of a small hillside vineyard and a producer who prefers to let ripeness develop in the vineyard before shaping the wine in the cellar.
Place
Tertre Roteboeuf sits in southeastern Saint-Émilion, where a hillside vineyard places limestone, clay, and drainage beneath mature Merlot and Cabernet Franc. The location guides the bottle toward a ripe, concentrated Bordeaux style, while the Cabernet Franc share adds a second grape to the estate's central red blend.
The label name Tertre Roteboeuf refers to the estate Mitjavile renamed in 1977. It is the named wine at the centre of the range, with place, grape varieties, and cellar method closely tied together.
Soil And Site
The vineyard occupies a hillside slope with limestone and clay-based soils in one large block. Natural drainage helps the vines carry a late harvest without leaving the grapes in stagnant ground. Forty-year average vine age adds maturity to the planting, while the older Cabernet Franc vines bring a distinct part of the blend from parcels with deeper history.
The site therefore enters the wine through ripeness and concentration, but also through the mixed planting. Merlot is the majority grape. Cabernet Franc remains large enough to shape the estate's character rather than appearing as a minor seasoning.
Story
Mitjavile's path moved from his family's haulage business and law studies in Paris to Château Figeac, then to his own renamed estate. That change in work became a change in wine. At Tertre Roteboeuf, late picking and low yields became guiding decisions, followed by concrete fermentation, new oak, and oxidative ageing.
The estate also took a deliberate position outside Bordeaux's formal hierarchy. Mitjavile has consistently rejected classification for Tertre Roteboeuf, even though the wine qualifies for Premier Cru status. The bottle therefore asks to be understood through its vineyard, blend, and production choices, with no classification line carrying the explanation.
Vineyards And Cellar
Mitjavile starts with late harvesting, allowing the grapes to reach full ripeness and develop more concentrated flavours. Low yields reduce the amount of fruit carried by each vine, concentrating the harvest before it reaches the cellar.
The grapes ferment in temperature-controlled concrete tanks. Concrete provides a stable vessel while temperature control keeps fermentation within a managed range. The wine then spends 18 months in 100% new French oak, placing oak firmly beside the ripe fruit of the late harvest.
Mitjavile uses oxidative ageing rather than reductive ageing. The wines reach a stable stage of development by the time they are bottled, so the cellar method is part of the bottle's shape, not a hidden technical detail.
Wines
Tertre Roteboeuf is the principal documented wine, a red blend led by Merlot with 20% Cabernet Franc. Its range position is clear: this is the estate where the hillside vineyard, mature vines, late picking, concrete fermentation, new oak, and oxidative ageing appear together. The wine's material vocabulary is ripe fruit, concentration, acidity, tannin, and oak, with each element tied to a grape or cellar decision.
Roc de Cambes belongs to the wider Mitjavile estate group and adds another named Bordeaux wine to the family story. The available material does not establish its exact blend, so its place in the range is best kept separate from Tertre Roteboeuf instead of being folded into the same recipe.
Domaine de l'Aurage is managed by Louis Mitjavile and extends the family connection across Bordeaux. It belongs in the wider picture, while Tertre Roteboeuf remains the bottle with the fullest supported detail on vineyard composition and cellar work.
In The Glass
From Tertre Roteboeuf, ripe fruit rises first, reflecting late harvesting and the 80% Merlot planting. The aroma then meets the darker register of new French oak, which has held the wine for 18 months.
On the palate, concentrated fruit gives weight, acidity keeps the wine moving, and tannin provides grip around the middle and finish. Cabernet Franc adds a second line beneath the Merlot, while oxidative ageing brings the wine to bottling in a stable stage of development. The finish leaves fruit, oak, and tannin in sequence, with the vineyard's limestone and clay expressed through the wine's firm, dry close.
Roc de Cambes should be approached as a separate Mitjavile wine, with its own grape balance and site expression. The family name connects the bottles, but the detailed taste account belongs first to Tertre Roteboeuf.
A Bottle To Understand It
Start with Tertre Roteboeuf. It is the estate's named wine from southeastern Saint-Émilion, built from 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc grown on limestone and clay. Late harvesting brings ripe, concentrated fruit; concrete fermentation keeps the cellar vessel neutral and controlled; 18 months in new French oak adds a marked oak frame; oxidative ageing brings the wine to a stable stage before bottling.
In the glass, look for ripe fruit carried by acidity, held by tannin, and surrounded by oak. This bottle gathers the estate's place, blend, harvest choice, and ageing method into one red wine, giving the name Tertre Roteboeuf a physical taste and texture.
Anecdote
François Mitjavile began in his family's haulage company, then went to Paris to study law. Neither path became his wine career. In 1975, he knocked on the door of Château Figeac, where Thierry Manoncourt admitted him and gave him his first winemaking role. Two years later, when Mitjavile made the inaugural vintage of his own winery, he changed the property name from Le Terte to Le Tertre Roteboeuf. The new name followed the wine into the cellar and onto the label, while the vineyard settled around 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc on a hillside in southeastern Saint-Émilion.
Final Word
Tertre Roteboeuf is a Bordeaux estate where the label name, hillside vineyard, Merlot and Cabernet Franc blend, late harvest, new oak, and oxidative ageing remain visible in the bottle. Mitjavile has consistently rejected classification for Tertre Roteboeuf, even though the wine qualifies for Premier Cru status. Look first for Tertre Roteboeuf, then read the wider Mitjavile range as a family of named estates with different levels of documented detail.