Château Broustet

The château

Broustet spent most of the 19th century joined to a neighbor. Bernard Capdeville owned it from 1781 and, early in the 19th century, bought Nairac next door and worked the 2 as one estate, which is why the brokers of 1855 ranked a single Broustet-Nairac. William Franck, whose Traité sur les vins du Médoc first appeared in 1824, still enters it in his edition of 1853 as one line, Capdeville at Broustet and at Nayrac, for 30 to 40 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels). By 1868 Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, had it under the widow H. Möller, who also held Myrat, and those 2 ran as one property in turn. Broustet and Nairac went their separate ways at the turn of the century and have stayed apart.

Gabriel Supau took Broustet over and replanted its 14 hectares on American rootstocks after phylloxera; the replanting began in 1900, and 1905 was the first vintage from the new vines. The Cocks and Féret directory of 1922 gives him 26 tonneaux and puts the vineyard’s capacity at 30 to 35, above the average of the Sauternais. The Fournier family came later and ran a cooperage on the property, and the 225 liter barrique that became the Bordeaux standard is credited to it. Didier Laulan bought the estate in the 1990s. It belongs today to Vignobles de Terroirs, of the Taillan group, which also owns Gruaud Larose, Ferrière and Chasse-Spleen.

The vineyard is about 17 hectares on gravel, sand and limestone, planted to Sémillon with Sauvignon Blanc and Muscadelle at 6,600 vines a hectare, the vines 35 years old on average. The grapes are picked by hand in successive passes, and Les Charmes de Broustet is the second wine.

At a glance

Appellation

Barsac; the wines may also be sold as Sauternes

Commune

Barsac

Classification

Deuxième Cru Classé 1855, ranked as Broustet-Nairac

Owner

Vignobles de Terroirs, of the Taillan group

Vineyard

About 17 hectares; 6,600 vines a hectare; vines 35 years old on average

Soil

Gravel, sand and limestone Terroir of Barsac →

Grapes

Sémillon with Sauvignon Blanc and Muscadelle

Wines

Château Broustet; Les Charmes de Broustet

The cooperage

The Fournier cooperage on the estate is credited with the 225 liter Bordeaux barrique

In history

Joined to Nairac, then to Myrat; replanted by Gabriel Supau, 14 hectares, from 1900