Château de La Rivière

The château

Château de La Rivière began as a stronghold on the fringes of Charlemagne’s empire, a fortified camp in 769. Around 1260 its lord was Gaston de l’Isle, baron de la Rivière, and the building that stands today, an oblong block flanked by 2 square towers with machicolations, appears to date from the middle of the 13th century, raised on the ruins of the older fortress. In the 16th century it belonged to the Campet family, comtes de Saujon, and then by marriage to the family of the marquis de Boufflers. The 19th-century trade knew it well: Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, list it from 1868 under Massé de Corneille, whose family held it for more than 100 years, and from 1883 under Mme Fuinel, whose family restored it in 1890; it made wine both on its slopes and on the river flats, up to 300 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels) in 1893.

In the 20th century the owners changed often. René Mortier Quarré, from 1900 to 1925, was the 1st to age the wine in barrel in the underground quarries; Jean Balluteaud, from 1925 to 1960, opened them to visitors; Jacques Borie, from 1960 to 1994, took the vineyard to 45 hectares. Jean Leprince, a former executive director of the Pinault group, followed from 1994 to 2003, then James Grégoire until 2013, and since the end of 2013 the estate has belonged to the Bolian group. Xavier Buffo, an agricultural engineer and enologist at the estate since 1997, is executive director, with Thomas Dô Chi Nam as technical manager and Claude Gros as consulting enologist.

The property covers about 100 hectares, with the vines on clay and limestone, on the plateau and its slopes. The red is planted 84% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc, 6% Cabernet Sauvignon and 2% Malbec, the white 66% Sauvignon Blanc and 34% Sauvignon Gris; the vines average 33 years, planted at 4,500 to 6,600 a hectare depending on their age, and 2.3 hectares date from 1922. The estate is certified Haute Valeur Environnementale (High Environmental Value, the French state’s environmental certification for farms), level 3. The grapes are picked by hand into small crates and ferment about 4 weeks in conical wooden and steel vats filled by gravity; 40% of the grand vin (the estate’s first wine) ages 15 months in new oak and 60% 12 months in used barrels. Under the château run 8 hectares of quarries, 25 kilometers of galleries at 13°C in total darkness. The other wines are Les Sources de Château de La Rivière, about 100,000 bottles, Le Blanc, a Bordeaux, and Le Lion de La Rivière, a rosé.

At a glance

Appellation

Fronsac

Commune

La Rivière

Classification

No classification

Owner

The Bolian group, since the end of 2013

Direction

Xavier Buffo, executive director; Thomas Dô Chi Nam, technical manager

Consultant

Claude Gros

Vineyard

In a property of about 100 hectares; vines 33 years old on average

Soil

Clay and limestone, plateau and slopes Terroir of Fronsac →

Grapes

Red: Merlot 84%, Cabernet Franc 8%, Cabernet Sauvignon 6%, Malbec 2%. White: Sauvignon Blanc 66%, Sauvignon Gris 34%

Farming

Haute Valeur Environnementale, level 3

Cellar

Picked by hand; conical wooden and steel vats; 40% 15 months in new oak, 60% 12 months in used barrels

Wines

Château de La Rivière; Les Sources de Château de La Rivière; Le Blanc; Le Lion de La Rivière

The quarries

8 hectares under the château; 25 kilometers of galleries at 13°C