Château Caronne Sainte-Gemme

The château

The name joins Carona, a Gaulish word for a small spring, and Sainte-Gemme, from Saint Jaime, or James: the parish lay on a branch of the pilgrims’ way to Compostela, guarded by Templars at the nearby hamlet of Benon. The first written trace of wine here is a lease of 1648, granted by the owner, Denys de Mullet de la Tour St Lambert. Émile Borie bought the property in 1900, and his grandson Jean Nony-Borie administered it from 1943, with his nephew François Nony. Jean, François and Georges Nony represent the family today, with Bruno Guyomard as cellar master and Bruno Sauquet as vineyard manager. Caronne Sainte-Gemme was named Cru Bourgeois Supérieur in 1932 and Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel in the list of 1966; it is in neither the 2020 nor the 2025 classification of the Alliance des Crus Bourgeois du Médoc.

The property covers 150 hectares, 45 of them vines in one block, on deep Günz gravel with pebbles that are sometimes large, over hardpan to the east and light clay to the west. It is planted 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 37% Merlot and 3% Petit Verdot at 10,000 vines a hectare. The grapes are fully destemmed and lightly crushed, fermented 8 to 10 days in temperature-controlled cement or stainless steel vats and macerated about 3 weeks; the wine spends 12 months in 1,100 French oak barrels, one quarter of them renewed each year, and the whole crop, 280,000 bottles, is bottled at the château.

At a glance

Appellation

Haut-Médoc

Commune

Saint-Laurent-Médoc

Classification

Cru Bourgeois Supérieur in 1932 and Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel in 1966; not in the classifications of 2020 or 2025

Owners

The family of Émile Borie, since 1900

Direction

Jean, François and Georges Nony; Bruno Guyomard, cellar master; Bruno Sauquet, vineyard manager

Vineyard

45 hectares in one block, on a property of 150; 10,000 vines a hectare

Soil

Deep Günz gravel over hardpan to the east and light clay to the west Terroir of Haut-Médoc →

Grapes

Cabernet Sauvignon 60%, Merlot 37%, Petit Verdot 3%

Cellar

Cement or stainless steel vats; 12 months in French oak barrels, one quarter renewed each year

Production

280,000 bottles, all bottled at the château

Wines

Château Caronne Sainte-Gemme

In history

Wine recorded in a lease of 1648