Château Corbin Michotte

The château

Corbin Michotte was a Grand Cru Classé in every list from the first, in 1955, to that of 2006, and kept the rank through the 2011 harvest, as the law of 2009 allowed once the courts had annulled the 2006 list; it was not in the revision of 2012, and the list approved in September 2022 made it a Grand Cru Classé again, 10 years later. It belongs to the heirs of Jean-Noël Boidron, who died in 2023.

The name has been on the books since the 19th century. Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, printed Château Corbin-Michotte in 1893 among the 2es crus of the graves, under Laboup; by 1908 Féret had moved it up among the 1ers crus of the graves, at 25 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels), and in 1922, under J. P. Borderie, it made 50, from a richly planted vineyard on a sandy and gravelly plateau around the château. Its wine, the guide wrote, was fine, soft, full and perfumed, and kept a dark and brilliant color with age.

The vineyard stands on siliceous soils rich in iron oxide, with no clay in them, in the Corbin sector on the northwest side of the appellation, planted 65% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Franc and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon. The grapes are picked by hand, and the wine is raised 60% in new barrels and 40% in concrete tanks. About 37,000 bottles are made.

At a glance

Appellation

Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

Commune

Saint-Émilion, in the Corbin sector on the northwest side of the appellation

Classification

Grand Cru Classé, 1955 to 2011 and 2022; out in 2012

Owners

The heirs of Jean-Noël Boidron (died 2023)

Soil

Siliceous soils rich in iron oxide, with no clay Terroir of Saint-Émilion →

Grapes

Merlot 65%, Cabernet Franc 30%, Cabernet Sauvignon 5%

Cellar

Picked by hand; 60% in new barrels, 40% in concrete tanks

Production

About 37,000 bottles

Wines

Château Corbin Michotte

In history

Among the 1ers crus of the graves at 25 tonneaux in 1908; 50 in 1922