Château de Pressac

The château

Pressac looks down from Saint-Étienne-de-Lisse over the plain where the battle of Castillon was fought in 1453, and it was in this house that the surrender ending the Hundred Years War in Aquitaine was signed. The estate left its mark on the vineyard as well. In the 18th century an owner brought up from Quercy the vine that Bordeaux calls Malbec and the official appellation rules call Cot, and from then on it was known as the Noir de Pressac. Maximin Josselin bought the property in 1860 and rebuilt it in the neo-Gothic manner; that is the house standing today. Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, had him at 50 to 60 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels) in 1868, and by 1897 his heirs, Fernand and Maximin Josselin, were making 120. In 1922 the same guide found the gate, the moat, the enclosing walls and the towers of the old castle still standing, and 35 hectares of vines replanted throughout in fine varieties grafted on American stock.

Jean-François and Dominique Quenin bought Pressac in 1997 and set about bringing it back. The terraces on the steepest slopes, long abandoned, were rebuilt in 1999, the same year as the vinification cellar; a second cellar followed in 2012. A 3rd vat house and a second aging cellar, under a planted roof sown for pollinators, were decided in 2017 and came into use with the 2022 harvest. The record shows the climb: in no Saint-Émilion classification before, Pressac was promoted to Grand Cru Classé in 2012 and confirmed in the list of September 2022.

The vineyard has covered 40 hectares since adjoining plots bought in 2016 came into production in 2022, and it lies in one unbroken block facing due south: worked clay and limestone rich in iron on top, over starfish limestone, then weathered limestone, sandy limestone and a clay full of fossil oysters. Six varieties grow here, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenère, Petit Verdot and the Noir de Pressac itself, back on the land that named it. The estate is certified Haute Valeur Environnementale (High Environmental Value, the French state’s environmental certification for farms), level 3. The fruit is picked by hand, sorted by density and run by gravity into vats of concrete, stainless steel and wood, and Yannick Reyrel is the technical manager. Château Tour de Pressac is the second wine; La Rosée du Château de Pressac, a Bordeaux rosé, is fermented in acacia barrels.

At a glance

Appellation

Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

Commune

Saint-Étienne-de-Lisse

Classification

Grand Cru Classé, 2012 and 2022; in no list before 2012

Owners

Jean-François and Dominique Quenin, since 1997

Direction

Yannick Reyrel, technical manager

Vineyard

40 hectares in one block facing due south, with adjoining plots bought in 2016 and in production since 2022; terraces on the steepest slopes, rebuilt in 1999

Soil

Clay and limestone rich in iron over starfish limestone, weathered limestone, sandy limestone and clay with fossil oysters Terroir of Saint-Émilion →

Grapes

Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenère, Petit Verdot, Noir de Pressac (Malbec)

Farming

Haute Valeur Environnementale, level 3

Cellar

Cellars of 1999 and 2012, and a 3rd vat house and second aging cellar in use since 2022; picked by hand; sorted by density; gravity; concrete, stainless steel and wood

Wines

Château de Pressac; Château Tour de Pressac; La Rosée du Château de Pressac

In history

The surrender that ended the Hundred Years War in Aquitaine signed here in 1453; 120 tonneaux by 1897