Château Puygueraud

George Thienpont, a member of the Thienpont wine family, bought the then 27-hectare Château Puygueraud farm in 1946. The famous Thienpont family owns such wineries as Vieux Château Certan and Le Pin. Before the vines, fruit and grain were grown on Puygueraud's farm. Almost all the orchards on the estate were replanted in 1970, when the Cabernet Sauvignon vines were replaced by Merlot, better suited to the conditions on the Right Bank of Bordeaux. In 1983, George's son Nicolas took over the farm and produced his first vintage. The following year, the farm's last Cabernet Sauvignon vines were pulled from the ground, and a new era in the farm's operations began. Nicolas is also assisted by his son Cyrille in tending the orchards and making wine.

Today, 70% of the vines in the 31-hectare orchards located on the Côtes de Francs plateau are Merlot, 25% Cabernet Franc and 5% Malbec. The soil in the nurseries is a mixture of clay and limestone, under which there is a deep layer of calcareous soil. The shelters are located in almost the highest area of the right bank of Bordeaux, known for its flatness and low location, on a plateau reaching 117 meters. The paddocks are plowed lightly and in winter, different crops are grown between the rows of vines to enrich the soil and increase oxygen. In the fight against plant diseases and pests, biological methods are gradually being used more and more. The ground between the rows of vines is plowed instead of using herbicides, although it increases the number of working hours in the nurseries. There are 4,500 vines per hectare, and with constant replanting, the average age of the orchards is about 30 years. The vines used in the selection massale style are vines from the past, so that the characteristics and terroir of the vines are strengthened, and the young vines express their origin from the very beginning of their life cycle. Various operations, such as thinning out leaves and extra spikes, are also done entirely by hand.

In the cellar of Château Puygueraud, there is a row of steel tanks renewed in 2010, as well as cement tanks, which enable plot-specific and more precise winemaking, which is the starting point for every ambitious winemaker in today's Bordeaux. The wines also mature for the first 6 months on the lees in steel tanks, after which they are aged for 12-16 months in French 225-liter oak barrels, about a third of which are renewed every year. In 2012, the estate produced its first white wine, the grapes of which are obtained from a 5-hectare area in the valley.

The farm's number one red wine production amount is around 80,000 bottles per year.

https://www.puygueraud.com/en/