Château de Villambis

The estate

Villambis stands at Cissac, in the heart of the Médoc, about 10 kilometers from Pauillac, around a château built in the 18th century. Its wine was known early. Charles Cocks, the Englishman whose Bordeaux, ses environs et ses vins became, with Édouard Féret, the guide of the Bordeaux trade, lists it under Balguerie fils in 1850, at 30 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels), and in 1855 Armand d’Armailhacq, in his book on the vineyards of the Médoc, counts it, under M. Balguerie, among the bourgeois ordinaires of the commune. The Baour family held it from 1868 and made 80 tonneaux by 1893; Mme Ed. Cruse had it in 1898 and the comte de Wrangel in 1922. It was first recognized as a Cru Bourgeois in 1932.

In 1979 the Adapei de la Gironde, an association of parents founded in 1958, took over the estate to set up an ESAT, a sheltered workplace (établissement et service d’aide par le travail), which supports about 100 workers with disabilities, and in 1982 the vineyard was rebuilt. Of its 18 hectares, 15 are in production, on Pyrenean gravel and sand over fissured limestone and clay, under Terra Vitis since 2020. The wine is made by the Bordeaux book: picking by hand and by machine, strict sorting, full destemming, temperature control, work by parcel, and 12 to 14 months in oak barrels, 1 third of them new. Besides Château de Villambis the estate sells Aôst de Villambis, Villa Rosé and Vill’Aôst, and it was a Cru Bourgeois in the classifications of 2020 and 2025.

At a glance

Appellation

Haut-Médoc

Commune

Cissac-Médoc

Classification

Cru Bourgeois, 2020 and 2025; first a Cru Bourgeois in 1932

Owner

Adapei de la Gironde, since 1979

Vineyard

18 hectares, 15 in production; rebuilt in 1982

Ground

Pyrenean gravel and sand over fissured limestone and clay

Farming

Terra Vitis, since 2020

Cellar

Picked by hand and by machine; fully destemmed; 12 to 14 months in oak barrels, 1 third new

Wines

Château de Villambis; Aôst de Villambis; Villa Rosé; Vill’Aôst

The house

An ESAT for about 100 workers with disabilities, since 1979

In history

Balguerie fils, 30 tonneaux, in 1850; the Baour family from 1868; the comte de Wrangel in 1922

Sources: Château de Villambis, the estate · Château de Villambis, our values · Adapei de la Gironde, Château de Villambis · Alliance des Crus Bourgeois du Médoc, Château de Villambis · Alliance des Crus Bourgeois du Médoc, the classification of 2025 · Alliance des Crus Bourgeois du Médoc, the classification of 2020