Clos du Jaugueyron

The château

Michel Théron left the Minervois at 20, thinking Bordeaux would be a stopover, and stayed for 2 reasons: Stéphanie Destruhaut, and the Médoc. He soon turned away from the dominant model of industrial farming toward the work of a peasant grower, and organic and biodynamic farming gradually took hold; the estate farms under the European organic label and the Demeter label. Together they work some 16 parcels in Margaux and Haut-Médoc, from Arsac.

The Margaux comes from 2.53 hectares at Arsac, at the lieu-dit Le Tertre, a rise of Quaternary gravel over subsoils with clay, planted 80% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Merlot, with vines more than 35 years old on average. Nout, another Margaux from Le Tertre, is 45% Cabernet Sauvignon and 55% Merlot, or up to 100% Merlot in some vintages. The Haut-Médoc comes from 4.08 hectares at Macau, on fine gravel and very poor sands that drain freely, planted 41% Merlot, 28% Cabernet Franc, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon and 11% Petit Verdot, 25 years old on average. The grapes are picked by hand and fermented in concrete vats; the wines spend 12 months in French oak foudres of 12 hectoliters and casks of 400 liters, then 4 to 10 months in vat, and are bottled at the estate with little sulfur.

At a glance

Appellation

Margaux; Haut-Médoc

Commune

Arsac, with vines at Macau

Classification

No classification

Direction

Michel Théron and Stéphanie Destruhaut

Vineyard

Some 16 parcels; 2.53 hectares for the Margaux, 4.08 for the Haut-Médoc

Soil

Quaternary gravel over clay at Arsac; fine gravel and sand at Macau Terroir of Margaux →

Grapes

Margaux: Cabernet Sauvignon 80%, Merlot 20%; Haut-Médoc: Merlot 41%, Cabernet Franc 28%, Cabernet Sauvignon 20%, Petit Verdot 11%

Farming

Organic and biodynamic, under the European organic and Demeter labels

Cellar

Picked by hand; concrete vats; 12 months in foudres of 12 hectoliters and casks of 400 liters, then 4 to 10 months in vat

Wines

Clos du Jaugueyron, Margaux; Nout, Margaux; Clos du Jaugueyron, Haut-Médoc