Château Climens

The château

The name is in the records by 1547. For most of the 19th century Climens belonged to one family: William Franck, whose Traité sur les vins du Médoc first appeared in 1824, puts Éloi Lacoste there in 1845 at 50 to 60 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels), Charles Cocks gives 60 in his guide of 1850, and Lacoste is still the name when Cocks and Édouard Féret publish Bordeaux et ses vins, the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, in 1868, by then down to 25 to 40. Alfred Ribet bought the estate in 1871, when it was 27 hectares laid out in 3 clos and planted four fifths to Sémillon. Henri Gounouilhou took it in 1885 with three quarters of the vines under phylloxera, replanted them, and was making 45 tonneaux by 1922.

Lucien Lurton bought Climens in 1971, and in 1992 his daughter Bérénice took it over, aged 22. She converted the vineyard to biodynamics, and Demeter certified it in 2014; no other first growth of 1855 has done the same. Then the frosts came. Frost took the crop in 2017 and again in 2021, and Climens made no grand vin (the estate’s first wine) in 4 of the 5 vintages from 2017 to 2021. In July 2022 Bérénice Lurton sold a majority holding to the Moitry family, through Patrimonia Développement, and stayed on as an adviser. Frédéric Nivelle has been technical director since 1998.

The vineyard is about 30 hectares in one continuous piece of red sand over the limestone plateau of Barsac, at 6,600 vines a hectare, the vines 35 years old on average. It is Sémillon alone, which is unusual even here. Cyprès de Climens is the second wine, and since 2018 the estate has made Asphodèle, a dry white from the secondary juice, raised in concrete.

At a glance

Appellation

Barsac; the wines may also be sold as Sauternes

Commune

Barsac

Classification

Premier Cru Classé 1855

Owners

The Moitry family, through Patrimonia Développement, majority holding since July 2022; the Lurton family from 1971

Direction

Frédéric Nivelle, technical director, since 1998; Bérénice Lurton, adviser

Vineyard

About 30 hectares in one continuous piece; 6,600 vines a hectare; vines 35 years old on average

Soil

Red sand over the limestone plateau of Barsac Terroir of Barsac →

Grapes

Sémillon, and nothing else

Farming

Biodynamic, certified by Demeter in 2014

Wines

Château Climens; Cyprès de Climens; Asphodèle, dry, since 2018

The frost years

No grand vin in 4 of the 5 vintages from 2017 to 2021

In history

The Lacoste family to 1868, Ribet from 1871, Gounouilhou from 1885; 45 tonneaux in 1922