Château Faugères

The château

André de Faugères began growing vines here in 1619, and the first cellars went up in the same century. For most of the time since, Faugères belonged to one family: the Esquissauds held it from 1823 to 1987, and the old books follow them without a break. Édouard Féret’s Statistique générale of the Gironde found Esquissaud in 1874 on an estate of 30 hectares, 18 of them in vine, making 45 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels); Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, had the estate at 80 by 1898 and Alfred Esquissaud at 100 in 1901. In 1922 Philippe Esquissaud was making 50 tonneaux of red and 5 of white on the broken clay and limestone of the Sainte-Colombe side.

The Guisez family followed from 1987, and Michel Rolland consulted here from 1992 until his death in March 2026. In 2005 Silvio Denz bought the estate, and his signature is the cellar: Mario Botta, the Swiss architect, designed a winery that works by gravity, inaugurated in 2009. Faugères was in no Saint-Émilion classification before 2012, when it was promoted to Grand Cru Classé; the list of September 2022 confirmed it. Vincent Cruège has managed the estate since 2019.

The vineyard sits at Saint-Étienne-de-Lisse, at the eastern end of Saint-Émilion where it meets Castillon, on the limestone plateau and the clay and limestone slope below it, rising to about 80 meters. The site runs a little cooler, and the harvest comes later. It is planted mostly to Merlot, with Cabernet Franc and a little Cabernet Sauvignon, and the vines are 35 years old on average. In the Botta cellar the fruit goes into stainless steel vats of 80 to 152 hectoliters after a cold soak of 5 days; the malolactic is done in French oak and the wine spends 14 months in barrel, half of them new. Le Calice de Faugères is the second wine.

At a glance

Appellation

Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

Commune

Saint-Étienne-de-Lisse, at the eastern end of the appellation

Classification

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

Owner

Silvio Denz, since 2005

Direction

Vincent Cruège, since 2019

Vineyard

Vines 35 years old on average; rising to about 80 meters

Soil

Limestone plateau and clay and limestone slope Terroir of Saint-Émilion →

Grapes

Mostly Merlot, with Cabernet Franc and a little Cabernet Sauvignon

Farming

Haute Valeur Environnementale (High Environmental Value, the French state’s environmental certification for farms), level 3

Cellar

By Mario Botta, 2009; gravity; steel vats of 80 to 152 hectoliters; 5 days of cold soak; 14 months in barrel, 50% new

Wines

Château Faugères; Le Calice de Faugères

In history

The Esquissaud family, 1823 to 1987; 45 tonneaux in 1874, 100 in 1901