Château du Raux

The estate

Château du Raux has passed from mother to daughter since 1879, and the trade books show how long the name has been on the map of Cussac. Charles Cocks, in Bordeaux, ses environs et ses vins of 1850, lists Raux under Bonnin, at 40 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels). By 1874 Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, have it under Eyrem at 50 tonneaux, and from 1883 among the crus bourgeois supérieurs, at 45; Eyrem and Bergeron won a silver medal for it at the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1889. It is under A. Bergeron in 1893, and in 1898 and 1922 under Mlle Hélène Eyrem, still at 45 tonneaux.

The 18 hectares lie in 1 block around the buildings, on sandy gravel about 1 meter deep over a deep layer of clay, planted to Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon at 6,666 vines a hectare. The grapes are picked by machine and fermented in temperature-controlled stainless steel vats, and the wine spends 12 months in barrel; the estate makes 80,000 bottles. It was a Cru Bourgeois in the classifications of 2020 and 2025.

At a glance

Appellation

Haut-Médoc

Commune

Cussac-Fort-Médoc

Classification

Cru Bourgeois, 2020 and 2025

Owner

SCI Château du Raux, a family estate handed down from mother to daughter since 1879

Vineyard

18 hectares in 1 block around the buildings; 6,666 vines a hectare

Ground

Sandy gravel about 1 meter deep over clay

Grapes

Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon

Cellar

Picked by machine; temperature-controlled stainless steel vats; 12 months in barrel

Production

80,000 bottles

In history

A cru bourgeois supérieur from 1883; a silver medal at Paris in 1889

Sources: Vignerons Indépendants d’Aquitaine, Château du Raux · Alliance des Crus Bourgeois du Médoc, Château du Raux · Alliance des Crus Bourgeois du Médoc, the classification of 2025 · Alliance des Crus Bourgeois du Médoc, the classification of 2020