Château Chantemerle

The château

The Cruchons’ story in the Médoc starts with a disaster, the great frost of 1956, which killed nearly the whole vineyard. Jean Taudin, Frédéric Cruchon’s grandfather, planted new vines and led the founding of the Cave Saint Roch, the cooperative of Queyrac, which he chaired for 30 years. In 1987 Jean Pierre Cruchon bought parcels at Gaillan-en-Médoc, 3 of them in a hamlet called Chante-Merle; he planted a 4th in 1988 and registered the name Château Chantemerle in 1993. An equipment shed put up in 1989 became a cellar in 1995, when he decided to make the wine at the estate, and for the first vintage, in 1996, his son Frédéric joined him. Chantemerle then had 9 hectares of vines, with a vat room and a barrel cellar of 200 square meters each, and a bottle store followed in 1998.

Frédéric Cruchon became manager in 2008, and in a few years the estate grew from less than 10 hectares to more than 30. The family added Château Moulin de Brion in 2016 and Château Lacombe Noaillac in 2018, and its properties, under the name Vignobles Cruchon & Fils, now cover more than 200 hectares, certified Haute Valeur Environnementale (High Environmental Value, the French state’s environmental certification for farms) at level 3; the house belongs to the Vignerons Indépendants.

Chantemerle grows on the gravel of the Gironde, from vines 30 years old, and the wine is 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, 3% Petit Verdot and 2% Cabernet Franc. The grapes are picked by machine and by hand, macerated 21 to 28 days and fermented at 28 to 32°C in temperature-controlled stainless steel, and the wine spends 12 months in oak, 30% of it new. It is a Cru Bourgeois in the classifications of 2020 and 2025.

At a glance

Appellation

Médoc

Commune

Gaillan-en-Médoc

Classification

Cru Bourgeois, 2020 and 2025

Owner

Vignobles Cruchon & Fils

Direction

Frédéric Cruchon, manager since 2008

Vineyard

Vines 30 years old

Soil

Gravel of the Gironde Terroir of Médoc →

Grapes

Cabernet Sauvignon 60%, Merlot 35%, Petit Verdot 3%, Cabernet Franc 2%

Farming

Haute Valeur Environnementale, level 3

Cellar

Picked by machine and by hand; 21 to 28 days on the skins; 12 months in oak, 30% new

Wines

Château Chantemerle

The house

Also Château Moulin de Brion and Château Lacombe Noaillac, Médoc