Château Roquefort
‘What is good for nature is also good for our children, our neighbours and our staff. I want to make Roquefort a winemaking estate which is synonymous with stands as a form of natural reserve,. W with 140 hectares of ring-fenced vegetation ring-fenced, w. We are already a protected hunting area and two parts of the estate are recognised Natura 2000 zones: the Engranne basin at the foot of the Roquefort plateau, and the Lisos basin in Cours-les-Bains. This is the vision and philosophy thatwhat I want to pass on to future generations.’ Frédéric Bellanger
Oak and hornbeam forests, prairies where white clover, St. John’s wort and harebells bloom in summer, clear babbling brooks, deer, badgers, wild boar: this is the natural heritage which charmed Jean Bellanger in 1978 when he purchased Château Roquefort. And because a love for nature was one of the values handed down to him by his father, since 1994 Frédéric has adopted an ambitious policy of conserving this exceptional biodiversity. The Roquefort philosophy is first and foremost to limit the impact of winemaking activities on the environment: respect for air, water, soil, flora and fauna are at the heart of our daily work concerns. Seeking ways of finding environmentally friendly techniques to limit quantities used, as well as new weeding methods – this awareness now forms the core of Château Roquefort’s environmental and societal approach.
Since 2014, Château Roquefort has therefore been a proud member of the first Bordeaux wine environmental management system (EMS) association with ISO 14001 certification.
The EMS is a collective approach launched by the CIVB and now unites more than 350 winemaking operations across the region. It examines all of an estate’s activities, from vine to consumer, in order to control and reduce their impact on the environment: energy usage, staff health and safety, waste sorting and recycling, pest control methods, cultivation methods and so on.
The following good practices have been implemented and are regularly monitored: washing stations, emission control, limiting treatments and restricted phytosanitary products to only what the vine needs, ultra-targeted spraying, increased employee protection. In addition, every day all of the teams at Château Roquefort are continuing their efforts to uphold this policy of quality and respect for the environment.
