Château de Malleret

The estate

Malleret is at Le Pian-Médoc, in the Haut-Médoc, and its oldest building is a pair of round powder towers that Pierre de Malleret acquired in 1593; in the 16th century Pierre Eyquem held a parcel here called Peyquem. The property passed through several Bordeaux families between 1730 and 1830, when Vincent Février bought it to make a wine estate of it, and his son-in-law, Jean-Baptiste de Basterot, replaced the farm buildings with a gentleman’s house. William Franck, whose Traité sur les vins du Médoc first appeared in 1824, listed Malleret at Le Pian under Sicard in 1853, at 50 to 70 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels).

Philippe-Frédéric Clossmann bought Malleret in 1860, and his direct descendants have held it ever since. Under the Clossmanns it grew, from 80 tonneaux on a domain of 260 hectares in 1874 to 200 tonneaux by 1893, from a domain of 400 hectares with 70 in vines, in Le Pian and Ludon. Armand-Joseph Ivoy laid out the arboretum park under the Second Empire, and the stud farm, with its own training track, bred winners of the Prix de Diane and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. The Société d’agriculture de la Gironde gave the estate its grand gold medal in 1894, and in 1898 Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, printed it as a cru bourgeois supérieur. In 1922 their guide named the Marquis du Vivier and Albert Oberkampf as proprietors, and a du Vivier is still at work here: Aymar du Vivier has handled communication and sales since 2012. The horses have stayed too, dressage horses now, with an equine hydrotherapy center.

The vineyard is 57 hectares on soils of 3 geological kinds, analyzed every 2 or 3 years. It is planted to Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, and aging plots have been replanted with Cabernet Sauvignon where the ground suits it better, at a target density of 10,000 vines a hectare. No weedkiller is used, insecticides have given way entirely to mating disruption, and the treatments are organic products or biocontrol. The harvest is by hand; the vats, of concrete and wood from 40 to 140 hectoliters, are filled by gravity and the cap punched down. Paul Bordes has managed the estate since 2013 and Stéphane Derenoncourt consults on vines and wine. Le Baron de Malleret is the second wine. In the classification of February 2025 Malleret was named a Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel, 1 of 14.

At a glance

Appellation

Haut-Médoc

Commune

Le Pian-Médoc

Classification

Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel in 2025, 1 of 14

Owners

The descendants of Philippe-Frédéric Clossmann, since 1860

Direction

Paul Bordes, estate manager, since 2013; Aymar du Vivier, communication and sales, since 2012

Consultant

Stéphane Derenoncourt

Vineyard

57 hectares on a property of 350; target density 10,000 vines a hectare

Ground

3 geological kinds, analyzed every 2 or 3 years

Grapes

Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot

Farming

No weedkiller, no insecticide; organic products or biocontrol

Cellar

Picked by hand; concrete and wood vats of 40 to 140 hectoliters, filled by gravity

Wines

Château de Malleret; Le Baron de Malleret

The park

An arboretum laid out by Armand-Joseph Ivoy under the Second Empire; a stud farm, now for dressage horses

In history

80 tonneaux under F. Clossmann in 1874; a cru bourgeois supérieur in 1898

Sources: Château de Malleret · Château de Malleret, the château · Château de Malleret, the vineyard · Château de Malleret, the people · Château de Malleret, the wines · Alliance des Crus Bourgeois du Médoc, the classification of 2025