Château de Portets

The estate

Portets was a lordship long before it was a wine. Guillaume de Gascq took charge of the castle in 1587 and his family held it for 2 centuries; in 1781 the last Gascq heir left it to Valdec de Lessart, who passed it in 1785 to the Séguineau de Lognac family, owners through the 19th century. On July 31, 1808, Napoleon, on his way back from Spain, stopped here before entering Bordeaux, and a bronze plaque in the courtyard marks the day. German troops occupied the château in the Second World War and left it in poor repair; in 1956 Jules Théron, an agronomy engineer and president of the General Council of Oran, bought it and restored it with his son. His granddaughter, Marie-Hélène Yung-Théron, owns and runs it today. The Renaissance front is listed as a historic monument.

The red vineyard is 1 parcel of 20 hectares, 55% Merlot and 45% Cabernet Sauvignon; the white is 60% Sémillon, 30% Sauvignon Blanc and 10% Muscadelle. The ground is heavy and gravelly, with rounded pebbles, over a subsoil of clay and silica. The estate joined the environmental management system of the Bordeaux wine council in 2017 and was certified Haute Valeur Environnementale (High Environmental Value, the French state’s environmental certification for farms) in 2024; it works the soil, grasses part of the vineyard and uses biocontrol products. The harvest is mainly by machine, and the reds begin with a few days of cold maceration before fermentation. Stéphane Grenier runs the vineyard and Jérôme Folin the cellar, and since the 2012 vintage the consultant oenologist Antoine Médeville has worked with the oenologist Christian Sourdès to choose and blend the vats that carry the name Château de Portets.

At a glance

Appellation

Graves

Commune

Portets

Classification

No classification

Owner

Marie-Hélène Yung-Théron

Direction

Stéphane Grenier, vineyard manager; Jérôme Folin, cellar master

Consultant

Antoine Médeville, since the 2012 vintage

Oenologist

Christian Sourdès

Vineyard

Red: 1 parcel of 20 hectares

Ground

Heavy gravel with rounded pebbles over clay and silica

Grapes

Red: Merlot 55%, Cabernet Sauvignon 45%; white: Sémillon 60%, Sauvignon Blanc 30%, Muscadelle 10%

Farming

Environmental management system since 2017; Haute Valeur Environnementale since 2024

Wines

Château de Portets, red and white Graves

In history

The Gascq family from 1587; Napoleon on July 31, 1808; Jules Théron from 1956

Sources: Château de Portets · Château de Portets, the history · Château de Portets, the vineyard · Château de Portets, the cellar · Château de Portets, the team · Syndicat Viticole des Graves, Château de Portets