Château Barde-Haut

The estate

Barde-Haut stands where its name says, at the top of the slopes of Saint-Christophe-des-Bardes, and its vineyard forms a single amphitheater open to the sun over the valley of the Dordogne. The old guide knew it as a second growth of the commune: Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, gave the widow Lebreton 20 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels) in 1893, and F. Marzelle 25 in 1922, noting that the vines stood at the very top of the slopes.

Hélène Garcin-Lévêque runs it today for the Garcin family, whose estates also include Clos L’Église in Pomerol and Haut-Bergey in Pessac-Léognan. The revision of 2012 made Barde-Haut a Grand Cru Classé, and the list approved in September 2022 confirmed it. The 17 hectares are clay and limestone, planted 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc; the grapes are picked by hand and fermented in concrete and stainless steel, and the first wine, about 70,000 bottles, is raised 80% in new barrels. Le Vallon de Barde-Haut, all Merlot, is the second wine: about 20,000 bottles, raised in barrels that have already held 1 wine or more.

At a glance

Appellation

Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

Commune

Saint-Christophe-des-Bardes, at the top of the slopes

Classification

Grand Cru Classé, 2012 and 2022

Owners

The Garcin family

Direction

Hélène Garcin-Lévêque

Vineyard

17 hectares in 1 piece, an amphitheater over the Dordogne valley

Ground

Clay and limestone

Grapes

Merlot 80%, Cabernet Franc 20%

Cellar

Picked by hand; concrete and stainless steel; 80% new oak for the first wine

Production

About 70,000 bottles of the first wine and 20,000 of the second

Wines

Château Barde-Haut; Le Vallon de Barde-Haut

Sources: Château Barde-Haut, the château · Conseil des Vins de Saint-Émilion, Château Barde-Haut · Conseil des Vins de Saint-Émilion, Le Vallon de Barde-Haut · Institut National de l’Origine et de la Qualité, the Saint-Émilion classification of 2022