Château du Mont

The château

At the end of the 19th century Madame Chevassier owned a few hectares of vines at Sainte-Croix-du-Mont, and her son Paul Chevassier made them count. Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, list his Cru du Mont in 1898 at 6 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels) of red and 8 of white; by 1922 it made 15 of red and 10 of white. He replanted 7 hectares and won the estate’s first gold medal, at Paris in 1929. His son-in-law Pierre Chouvac took over in 1947 with 11 hectares, Paul Chouvac in 1975 with 20 hectares across 4 Bordeaux appellations, and Hervé Chouvac, on the estate since 1986, in 2000: 4 generations of the family.

The estate now has 25 hectares in Sainte-Croix-du-Mont, Sauternes and the Graves, and makes 100,000 bottles of white and red, all picked by hand. Cuvée Pierre, its Sainte-Croix-du-Mont, comes from clay and limestone on slopes facing south and southwest: 100% Sémillon from vines 60 years old on average, the grapes shriveled by noble rot and picked by hand at 5 to 6 hectoliters a hectare, then aged 15 months in new oak barrels. If Blanc, also pure Sémillon, is the other Sainte-Croix-du-Mont; Cuvée Jeanne is a Sauternes from clay and gravel at Fargues, and the range adds Graves in red and white, Cuvée Gabriel among them, and Bordeaux in red, white and rosé.

At a glance

Appellation

Sainte-Croix-du-Mont; Sauternes; Graves; Bordeaux

Commune

Sainte-Croix-du-Mont

Classification

No classification

Owners

The Chouvac family, since 1947

Direction

Hervé Chouvac, since 2000

Vineyard

25 hectares in 3 appellations

Soil

Cuvée Pierre: clay and limestone on slopes facing south and southwest Terroir of Sainte-Croix-du-Mont →

Grapes

Sweet wines: Sémillon 100%

Cellar

All picked by hand; Cuvée Pierre: 15 months in new oak barrels

Production

100,000 bottles

Wines

Cuvée Pierre and If Blanc, Sainte-Croix-du-Mont; Cuvée Jeanne, Sauternes; Cuvée Gabriel, Graves; Graves and Bordeaux

In history

Cru du Mont under Paul Chevassier: 6 tonneaux of red and 8 of white in 1898; a gold medal at Paris in 1929