Château d’Arricaud

The château

Château d’Arricaud stands at Landiras, ringed by woods and looking out over the Sauternes country, and its house is largely the work of one man. The comte Joachim de Chalup joined the grey musketeers in 1772 and became president of the Parlement de Bordeaux; he was imprisoned at Cadillac during the Terror and, under the Restoration, became first president of the royal court at Angers. Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, list Château Darricaud, as they spelled it, from 1886, under the comte R. de Chalup: an estate of 100 hectares on clay soil northeast of Landiras, more than one third of it vines. In 1898 the guide called it the cru long reputed the first of Landiras, with wines able to rival those of Illats; it had won a bronze medal at Paris in 1878. In 1922 it belonged to A. Pergaud, with about 70 hectares.

The Bouyx-Trénit family has held it for 3 generations, and Isabelle Bouyx runs it today. The 23 hectares lie in one block, clayey gravel on the upper slopes and red clay-limestone with fossil starfish lower down; the reds grow on the gravel and the whites on the limestone, and the estate is certified Haute Valeur Environnementale (High Environmental Value, the French state’s environmental certification for farms).

The Graves Supérieures comes from 3 hectares of vines 40 years old, 80% Sémillon, 10% Sauvignon and 10% Muscadelle, picked by hand in successive passes for the botrytized grapes, fermented slowly in stainless steel at 17°C and aged 18 months on fine lees. There is also a dry white Graves, 70% Sémillon and 30% Sauvignon, and 2 red Graves: the Grand Vin (the estate’s first wine), 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, aged 2 years in barrel, and the Réserve du Comte, 70% Merlot.

At a glance

Appellation

Graves Supérieures, sweet; Graves, red and white

Commune

Landiras

Classification

No classification

Owners

The Bouyx-Trénit family, for 3 generations

Direction

Isabelle Bouyx

Vineyard

23 hectares in one block; 3 for the Graves Supérieures

Soil

Clayey gravel above; red clay-limestone with fossil starfish below Terroir of Graves Supérieures →

Grapes

Graves Supérieures: Sémillon 80%, Sauvignon 10%, Muscadelle 10%

Farming

Haute Valeur Environnementale

Cellar

Graves Supérieures: stainless steel at 17°C, 18 months on fine lees

Wines

Château d’Arricaud Graves Supérieures; dry white Graves; Grand Vin and Réserve du Comte, red Graves

In history

Reputed the first cru of Landiras in 1898; a bronze medal at Paris in 1878