Château Capbern

The château

Capbern goes back to the 18th century and to 2 marriages, first between heirs of the Rivière and Capbern families, then between the Capberns and the Gasquetons, and it was as Capbern-Gasquetons that the family bought Château Calon Ségur in 1894. William Franck, whose Traité sur les vins du Médoc first appeared in 1824, lists Capbern under the Capbern family that year, at 60 to 70 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels), and by 1855 Armand d’Armailhacq, in his book on the vines and wines of the Médoc, names it Gasqueton, formerly Capbern, with 17 hectares. Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, carry it under the Gasquetons from 1868; in 1886 they found it made solely from Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, in a family that had held it for more than 5 generations. In 1922 it was a cru bourgeois supérieur under Georges Gasqueton.

After Denise Gasqueton died, Suravenir bought the 2 estates in 2011, and they have gone on together since, with Éric Boissenot as consulting enologist. The wine went out as Capbern Gasqueton until 2013, when it became simply Capbern. Of its 38 hectares, 33 are planted and 29 in production, on gently sloping, well-exposed parcels of sandy gravel, clayey gravel and limestone: 52% Cabernet Sauvignon, 45% Merlot, 2% Petit Verdot and 1% Cabernet Franc, at 8,000 vines a hectare, pruned double Guyot and 17 years old on average. The wine ferments at 26°C for 18 to 21 days and spends 18 months in barrel, 60% new and the rest having held 1 wine.

The 2011, which I tasted in May 2025, had reached its mature stage: medium-bodied, Cabernet at the center, plum and black fruit giving way to earth and leather, with a spicy finish.

At a glance

Appellation

Saint-Estèphe

Commune

Saint-Estèphe

Classification

No classification

Owner

Suravenir, since 2011, with Château Calon Ségur

Consultant

Éric Boissenot

Vineyard

38 hectares; 33 planted, 29 in production; 8,000 vines a hectare, 17 years old on average

Soil

Sandy gravel, clayey gravel and limestone Terroir of Saint-Estèphe →

Grapes

Cabernet Sauvignon 52%, Merlot 45%, Petit Verdot 2%, Cabernet Franc 1%

Cellar

18 to 21 days at 26°C; 18 months in barrel, 60% new

The name

Capbern Gasqueton until 2013

In history

Under the Capbern family, 60 to 70 tonneaux, in 1824; a cru bourgeois supérieur in 1922