Château de Malle

The estate

The house dates from the start of the 17th century, and Jacques de Malle founded the estate in 1650. Its glory is the garden. Between 1717 and 1724 Alexandre Eutrope de Lur Saluces laid it out on the Florentine model, on a central axis with 2 terraces of statuary: a small open-air theater peopled with figures from the commedia dell’arte, and statues standing for the classical elements. The château with its wings and towers, its gates, and the park with its basins, terraces, statues and nymphaeum were listed as historic monuments by the order of September 8, 1949, and the gardens carry the label Jardins remarquables.

De Malle was a Lur Saluces house before it was a classified growth. Clarets and Sauternes, a guide of 1920, follows the counts through it, Alexandre in 1793, Henri in 1842 and Pierre from 1885, and puts the crop at 80 to 100 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels) around 1845; the English writer Charles Cocks, in Bordeaux, ses environs et ses vins of 1850, gave it 80 tonneaux in the 3rd class at Preignac, 5 years before the brokers made it a second growth. The same guide of 1920 sets down the years that failed: 2 tonneaux in 1854, 8 in 1855, 10 in 1856. Pierre de Bournazel restored the property in the early 1950s and his family held it until April 2024, when Luc and Clémence Planty bought it; Luc Planty had directed Château Guiraud.

About 28 hectares are Sauternes, planted to Sémillon with Sauvignon Blanc and a little Muscadelle. The rest of the estate lies in Graves and carries Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot for the red, Château de Cardaillan, and white varieties for M de Malle, and a second red, Château Pessan, is made as well. The new owners have announced a conversion to organic farming across both appellations.

At a glance

Appellation

Sauternes, with Graves red and white from the same estate

Commune

Preignac

Classification

Deuxième Cru Classé 1855

Owners

Luc and Clémence Planty, since April 2024

Vineyard

About 28 hectares in Sauternes, more in Graves for the reds and the dry white

Grapes

Sémillon with Sauvignon Blanc and a little Muscadelle for the Sauternes; Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot for the reds

Farming

Conversion to organic announced

Wines

Château de Malle; Château de Cardaillan, Graves red; Château Pessan, Graves red; M de Malle, Graves white

The house

Early 17th century; château, gates and park listed as historic monuments on September 8, 1949

The gardens

Laid out between 1717 and 1724 by Alexandre Eutrope de Lur Saluces on the Florentine model; Jardins remarquables

In history

80 tonneaux at Preignac in 1850, under Lur Saluces

Sources: Plan du Patrimoine, Château de Malle, Preignac, listing PA00083681 · The Drinks Business, Luc Planty acquires the historic Château de Malle · INAO, cahier des charges Sauternes