At A Glance
Domaine Chibaou is a 70 hectare estate in Entre-Deux-Mers, France, with vineyards on rolling clay-limestone and silty terrain. Christophe Rebillou began working the vineyard organically in 2009. The confirmed bottle is Surnaturel Merlot 2020, made from 100% Merlot, listed under a Bordeaux appellation at 14% alcohol by volume and certified organic. The estate has substantial scale, while the confirmed bottle gives a focused view of its grape and farming credentials.
The Producer
Domaine Chibaou brings together a large vineyard holding and a dated change in farming practice. Its 70 hectares place the estate firmly in Entre-Deux-Mers, while the move to organic farming in 2009 gives the portrait a concrete point of action. Organic is not a decorative label here. It marks a decision that began at a specific moment and continues to define how the vineyard is presented.
The confirmed wine is Surnaturel Merlot 2020. Its name identifies the bottle, Merlot identifies the grape, Bordeaux identifies the appellation description, and 2020 identifies the vintage. That sequence keeps the estate legible: a producer in Entre-Deux-Mers, a single confirmed 100% Merlot bottle, and a farming choice that predates the vintage by more than a decade.
Place
Entre-Deux-Mers supplies the regional setting for Domaine Chibaou. The vineyards are on rolling terrain, with clay-limestone and silty soils. No village, named parcel or narrower appellation footprint is established, so the wine belongs here at regional scale. The label connection is equally clear: Surnaturel Merlot 2020 is recorded under a Bordeaux appellation, while the estate itself is located in Entre-Deux-Mers.
This gives the bottle a useful geographical frame without assigning it a flavour that the confirmed material does not support. The land can be described physically. Aroma, ripeness, acidity and tannin require evidence from the wine itself.
Soil And Site
The vineyard soils are clay-limestone and silty, spread across rolling land. Those are the physical facts that define the site description. They place the vines in a mixed soil setting rather than a single named parcel, and they explain why the estate can be described through terrain and soil before any tasting language is added.
No elevation, exposure, drainage pattern or microclimate detail is established. The site therefore remains concrete without becoming overdrawn: rolling Entre-Deux-Mers ground, clay-limestone, silt, and 70 hectares under one estate name.
Story
The estate's clearest movement begins in 2009, when Rebillou started working the vineyard organically. The date changes the meaning of the farming claim. It makes organic agriculture part of the estate's working history, with a beginning that can be placed before the 2020 Surnaturel Merlot vintage.
The story stops there because the confirmed material does not supply a conversion scene, a cellar response or a change in flavour. What remains is a clear production decision: the vineyard moved toward organic farming in 2009, and the later bottle is certified organic.
Vineyards And Cellar
The vineyard work has one confirmed defining practice: organic farming began in 2009. That fact belongs to the land, not to a tasting note. It tells how the estate chooses to farm and gives the organic certification on Surnaturel Merlot 2020 a longer context than the bottle's vintage alone.
The cellar record is narrower. No fermentation vessel, maceration period, yeast choice, ageing vessel, oak use or bottling method is established. The bottle can be described accurately through its grape, vintage, appellation description, alcohol level and certification. Nothing further should be added to its cellar story.
Wines
Surnaturel Merlot 2020 is the only confirmed Domaine Chibaou wine. It is a 100% Merlot bottle under a Bordeaux appellation description, from the 2020 vintage, at 14% alcohol by volume and certified organic. These details give the wine a clear label profile, even though they do not establish a wider range or hierarchy of cuvées.
The five facts do different jobs. Merlot names the grape composition. Bordeaux names the appellation category supplied for the bottle. 2020 names the harvest year. Fourteen percent records the alcohol level. Organic certification records a production credential. None of these facts, alone or together, establishes body, sweetness, acidity, tannin, oak influence or finish, so those qualities should not be assigned by habit.
In The Glass
The first thing confirmed about Surnaturel Merlot 2020 is its composition: the glass contains a wine made from 100% Merlot. The label also gives a 14% alcohol level, but that figure records alcohol rather than promising weight, warmth or fullness.
Aroma, mouthfeel, acidity, tannin, body, sweetness and finish are not established. The wine may be tasted, but its sensory sequence cannot be supplied responsibly from the label facts. The useful expectation is therefore factual and modest: Merlot, 2020, Bordeaux appellation description, 14% alcohol and organic certification, followed by whatever the bottle actually delivers in the glass.
A Bottle To Understand It
Surnaturel Merlot 2020 is the sound first bottle to pick up because it carries the most complete set of confirmed details in the Domaine Chibaou range. It is 100% Merlot, from the 2020 vintage, listed under a Bordeaux appellation at 14% alcohol by volume and certified organic. Those details connect grape, place, vintage and farming practice in one bottle.
Its texture, aroma and finish remain open questions, which is part of handling the wine honestly. Begin with the label, then taste for the qualities that the label cannot provide. The bottle offers a defined introduction to Domaine Chibaou's confirmed work without pretending that a technical fact is a tasting note.
Anecdote
The name arrived with two family histories attached to it. “Chibaou” is the Gascon patois word for horse, a reference to Christophe Rebillou's wife's equestrian passion. It also reaches back to Rebillou's great-grandfather, who worked as a coachman and farrier. The estate name therefore carries both a present family interest and an older working life built around horses. No naming ceremony or date is established, but the word itself keeps those two references together on every bottle bearing the Domaine Chibaou name.
Final Word
Domaine Chibaou is a 70 hectare estate in Entre-Deux-Mers, planted on rolling clay-limestone and silty terrain, with organic farming begun in 2009. Surnaturel Merlot 2020 gives that setting a confirmed bottle: 100% Merlot, Bordeaux appellation description, 14% alcohol and organic certification. The name adds a Gascon horse reference and a family history of equestrian work.
Sources
- www.bodeboca.fr/domaines/chibaou
- Supports estate size, Entre-Deux-Mers location, rolling terrain, clay-limestone and silty soils, organic farming from 2009, and the Chibaou naming history.
- www.closdesmillesimes.com/24991-clos-des-millesimes-domaine-chibaou---surnaturel-merlot-2020.html
- Supports Surnaturel Merlot 2020 as a 100% Merlot wine recorded under a Bordeaux appellation.
- www.systembolaget.se/produkt/vin/5653301
- Supports the wine name, vintage, 14% alcohol by volume, organic certification and 100% Merlot grape verification.