Château Certan-Giraud

The château

Certan-Giraud was a Pomerol of the plateau, and its best land had an old pedigree. It had once belonged to the estate of the de May family, who settled on the plateau in the 16th century and planted one of the first vineyards of the appellation there. Some of its Cabernet Franc went into the soil in 1956, and a good part of those vines is still standing.

The end came in 1999, when Établissements Jean-Pierre Moueix bought the estate. The house kept neither the name nor the whole vineyard: it took only the highest parcels on the plateau, 4.5 hectares with Château Lafleur to the north, Petrus to the east, Château La Fleur-Pétrus to the west and Vieux Château Certan to the south, and made them Château Hosanna. That soil is blue clay over red gravel, on the iron-rich subsoil the Libournais call crasse de fer, planted 70% Merlot and 30% Cabernet Franc. The name Certan-Giraud was retired with the sale; its heart goes on under another name.

At a glance

Appellation

Pomerol

Commune

Pomerol, on the plateau

Classification

No classification

Last owners

Établissements Jean-Pierre Moueix, from 1999

Vineyard

Its highest plateau parcels, 4.5 hectares, became Château Hosanna in 1999; Cabernet Franc from 1956

Soil

Blue clay over red gravel, on crasse de fer Terroir of Pomerol →

In history

Part of the estate of the de May family, on the plateau since the 16th century

Now part of

Château Hosanna