Chateau Damase in Savignac de l'Isle. 

The first mention of Savignac de l'Isle can be traced to 1289. It breathes history.It is dominated by a feudal castle “Le Château de Savignac” of which Château Damase used to be a part. A little secret gem, the village of Savignac de l'Ilse lies in the shadow of its illustrious neighbours, Pomerol, St-Émilion et Fronsac. Since the days of the Marquis de Castellane- Esparon, vines have been cultivated here.

Chateau Damase was rebuilt and expanded in 1985 by the family Milhade. Their objective was to make terroir driven wines. It was clear from from very early on that the vineyard had the potential for producing high quality wines.

In 2010 Richard and Arianne von Seidel aquired Chateau Damase and they will continue the further development of the vineyard.

Richard grew up in Zimbabwe and South Africa and travelled extensively in Africa and Latin America. Whilst he loves the African roughness and the explosion of taste in many South African wines, he felt that the wines always lacked something. Wine is his passion, investment banking was his day time job. He met Arianne whilst she was in Johannesburg on a business trip. Living on opposite sides of the world, made them meet in places all over Europe. Their love affair and his consequent travelling to Europe made him realise that what was missing in SA wines, was tradition, history and time. He felt that the love for “terroir” spiced with African optimism and adventurism is the ideal combination for a spectacular wine. Richard and Arianne's passion for wine propelled them to acquire an estate of their own. They left investment banking, packed up house and their four children and set off for France, Bordeaux, the world capital of wine. A new adventure has started for the Family von Seidel !

The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun. ― Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild

Chateau Damase is dominated by the King of the Right Bank grapes – Merlot which is superbly balanced fruit and acidity and mature, rounded tannins. This forms the backbone of the wine and gives it balance to last, but an enviable fruitiness in its youth.

Chateau Damase pioneered the re-introduction of “Bordeaux’s lost grape” – Carmenere. This constitutes approximately 10% of the area of the Chateau but is an extremely difficult grape and so has a varied yield depending on the conditions at flowering time. Its presence breaths life and spicy, herbal freshness into the wine and gives it a unique Damase flavour. This remarkable grape distinguishes Chateau Damase from the Bordeaux norm, however its addition is carefully considered and in many years it is used to produce a single-varietal Carmenere leaving the Merlot to work its magic in the Damase offering.