Château Caillou

The estate

Caillou’s decline can be read in the old books, crop by crop. William Franck, whose Traité sur les vins du Médoc first appeared in 1824, gives Sarraute 25 to 30 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels) here in his edition of 1845. Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, give Louis Sarraute 20 in 1883 and 15 by 1898, and Clarets and Sauternes, a guide published in 1920, carries the series down to 8 tonneaux in 1908. The next year Joseph Ballan bought the 14 hectares from the Sarraute family, walled and in 1 piece, and turned the estate around: the Cocks and Féret directory of 1922 gives him 30 tonneaux and expects 40 to 50.

The family has held on since. Ballan’s daughter Reine married Joseph Bravo in 1943, and the couple ran Caillou until the end of the 1990s. Their daughter Marie-Josée and her husband Michel Pierre took over from 1997, and their sons Sébastien and Jean-Noël run it now, the 4th generation of the same family.

The vineyard sits on a clay and limestone plateau under a cover of sandy clay, with gravel at the surface, at 5,500 vines a hectare, with old vines, planted 90% Sémillon and 10% Sauvignon. The grapes are picked by hand in 3 or 4 passes and the wine is raised in French oak. The range goes well beyond the sweet wine: Les Érables de Caillou is the second wine and Caillou Sec the dry white; there is a Crémant de Bordeaux made from Sémillon alone, and a red, Les Murets de Caillou, sold as Bordeaux Supérieur.

At a glance

Appellation

Barsac; the wines may also be sold as Sauternes

Commune

Barsac

Classification

Deuxième Cru Classé 1855

Owners

The same family since 1909, through the Ballan, Bravo and Pierre generations

Direction

Sébastien and Jean-Noël Pierre

Vineyard

5,500 vines a hectare; old vines

Ground

A clay and limestone plateau under sandy clay, gravel at the surface

Grapes

Sémillon 90%, Sauvignon 10%

Cellar

Picked by hand in 3 or 4 passes; raised in French oak

Wines

Château Caillou; Les Érables de Caillou; Caillou Sec, dry; a Crémant de Bordeaux from Sémillon alone; Les Murets de Caillou, red, sold as Bordeaux Supérieur

In history

From 25 to 30 tonneaux in 1845 down to 8 in 1908, and back to 30 under Ballan in 1922

Sources: Commune de Barsac, Château Caillou · Château Caillou, Les Murets de Caillou · INAO, cahier des charges Barsac · Conseil des Grands Crus Classés en 1855, the classified growths