Château Clément-Pichon

The château

For nearly 3 centuries, from 1601 to 1880, the estate of Parempuyre belonged to the Pichons, several of whom played an important part in the history of Bordeaux. Louis XIV lodged with one of them, the président Bernard de Pichon, in 1659 and 1660, and came to shoot quail on the land. The vineyard was a late addition: William Franck, whose Traité sur les vins du Médoc first appeared in 1824, lists the Château de Parempuyre under de Pichon in 1845, at 20 to 25 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels), and in 1855 Armand d’Armailhacq, in De la culture des vignes, la vinification et les vins dans le Médoc, called the vineyard of the baron de Pichon de Parempuyre new and still little known: about 15 hectares on a high rise of good gravel, making 40 tonneaux.

E. Durand-Dassier bought the château from the baron de Pichon, and by 1883 it made 100 tonneaux. He built the present château around 1880, one of the finest of the Médoc, in a wide wooded park. At his death the vineyard was divided between his daughter, Mme Frédéric Cruse, and his son, who kept the château and the park; in 1922 Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, carried the son’s part as a cru bourgeois supérieur of about 50 tonneaux, with a diploma of honor from Ghent in 1913.

Clément-Pichon belongs today to the Fayat group, and its present vineyard was created entirely after Clément Fayat acquired the estate. The park covers 40 wooded hectares, and the property has been listed as a historic monument since 2002. The 25 hectares of vines face north to south on sand over dry gravel, with clay beneath that keeps the vines fresh, planted to Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc at 7,000 to 8,000 vines a hectare, 30 years old on average, for 120,000 bottles. The second wine is La Motte de Clément-Pichon. The estate was a Cru Bourgeois Supérieur in the classification of 2020 and is not in the list of 2025.

At a glance

Appellation

Haut-Médoc

Commune

Parempuyre

Classification

Cru Bourgeois Supérieur in 2020; not in the list of 2025

Owner

The Fayat group

Vineyard

25 hectares, created after Clément Fayat acquired the estate; 7,000 to 8,000 vines a hectare; 30 years old on average

Soil

Sand over dry gravel, with clay beneath Terroir of Haut-Médoc →

Grapes

Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc

Production

120,000 bottles

Wines

Château Clément-Pichon; La Motte de Clément-Pichon

The château

Built around 1880 by E. Durand-Dassier, in a wooded park of 40 hectares; a listed historic monument since 2002

In history

The Pichon family, 1601 to 1880; Louis XIV a guest in 1659 and 1660