Château de Barbe Blanche

The estate

Barbe Blanche has an old reputation. Legend has it that Henri de Navarre, the future Henri IV, liked its wine, and in 1833 the English wine writer Cyrus Redding, in A History and Description of Modern Wines, named Barbe-Blanche with Saint-Émilion and Cenon among the finest wines of that class, kept 4 to 6 years before bottling and improving for 12 more. The Favereau family owned it in the 18th century, and around 1800 it passed to the Jay-Bodet family. Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, list it among the crus bourgeois of Lussac from 1868, under Bertrand, at 15 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels) by 1874, then under his son-in-law Cassat, at 35 tonneaux by 1897 and 60 of red and 30 of white in 1922.

Under the estate run limestone quarries dug in the 19th century, and on their walls are graffiti left by American soldiers in 1918 and 1919, among them “USA” and “Okla.”; found and authenticated, they inspired 2 of its wines. Barbe Blanche is co-owned today by Claude Magnon and Vignobles André Lurton, which runs it on the technical and commercial side and also owns Château Bonnet and Château Couhins-Lurton.

The vineyard lies 87 meters above sea level, on a shelf of clay and limestone under about 1 meter of clay, with clay and sand at the foot of the hill. It is 63% Merlot, 31% Cabernet Franc and 6% Cabernet Sauvignon, pruned in double Guyot and in conversion to organic farming. The grapes are picked by machine and sorted at the winery, fermented about 3 weeks in temperature-controlled stainless steel and aged 12 months in oak barrels, 50% new; the 2023 is 72% Merlot and 28% Cabernet Franc. Beside the grand vin (the estate’s first wine) come BB de Barbe Blanche, the Cuvée Henri IV and Cœur Perdu, 100% Cabernet Franc, of which only 1,200 bottles are made a year.

At a glance

Appellation

Lussac-Saint-Émilion

Commune

Lussac

Classification

No classification

Owners

Claude Magnon and Vignobles André Lurton

Operator

Vignobles André Lurton

Vineyard

At 87 meters; double Guyot

Ground

Clay and limestone under about 1 meter of clay; clay and sand at the foot of the slope

Grapes

Merlot 63%, Cabernet Franc 31%, Cabernet Sauvignon 6%

Farming

In conversion to organic

Cellar

Picked by machine; stainless steel; 12 months in oak barrels, 50% new

Wines

Château de Barbe Blanche; Cuvée Henri IV; BB de Barbe Blanche; Cœur Perdu

The house

Vignobles André Lurton: also Château Bonnet and Château Couhins-Lurton

In history

Among the finest of its class for Cyrus Redding, 1833; a cru bourgeois of Lussac from 1868

Sources: Vignobles André Lurton, Château de Barbe Blanche · Vignobles André Lurton, Château de Barbe Blanche 2022 · Vignobles André Lurton, technical sheet of Château de Barbe Blanche 2023 · Vignobles André Lurton, Château Barbe Blanche unravelled, an unlikely love story