Château Corconnac

The estate

Philippe Pairault trained as an architect and ran a communications agency; Fabienne Pairault, a journalist and lawyer by training, worked in communications for the car industry. In 1990 they left Paris for the Médoc and bought Château Teynac, at Saint-Julien, and Château Corconnac, at Saint-Laurent-Médoc, and in 1995 they added Château Les Ormes, another Saint-Julien. Their daughter Éléonore has since joined them. Corconnac was a village of Saint-Laurent before it was a château: Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, knew only its growers until 1922, when they first listed Château Corconnac, under Robin, among the crus bourgeois supérieurs et crus bourgeois.

The vineyard is 8.5 hectares on the clay and limestone plateau, 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Merlot, with vines 40 years old on average, and the red spends 12 months in French oak; it comes to about 35,000 bottles. On their arrival in the early 1990s the Pairaults also planted white grapes, and a white of 100% Sauvignon Blanc now makes a little under 1,000 bottles a year. The estates hold Haute Valeur Environnementale (High Environmental Value, the French state’s environmental certification for farms) from the 2016 vintage and ISO 14001, and since 2015 have belonged to a collective environmental management group. Corconnac was a Cru Bourgeois in the classifications of 2020 and 2025.

At a glance

Appellation

Haut-Médoc

Commune

Saint-Laurent-Médoc

Classification

Cru Bourgeois, 2020 and 2025

Owners

Philippe and Fabienne Pairault, since 1990

Vineyard

8.5 hectares; vines 40 years old on average

Ground

A clay and limestone plateau

Grapes

Cabernet Sauvignon 60%, Merlot 40%

Farming

Haute Valeur Environnementale, from the 2016 vintage; ISO 14001

Cellar

12 months in French oak barrels

Production

About 35,000 bottles; the white, a little under 1,000

Wines

Château Corconnac, red; Château Corconnac, white, 100% Sauvignon Blanc

The house

Also Château Teynac and Château Les Ormes, Saint-Julien

Sources: Châteaux Teynac Corconnac · Châteaux Teynac Corconnac, the estates · Châteaux Teynac Corconnac, the Pairault family · Châteaux Teynac Corconnac, the wines · Châteaux Teynac Corconnac, the environment · Châteaux Teynac Corconnac, contact · Alliance des Crus Bourgeois du Médoc, Château Corconnac · Alliance des Crus Bourgeois du Médoc, the classification of 2025 · Alliance des Crus Bourgeois du Médoc, the classification of 2020