Château German Marbuzet

The château

South of the place called Montrose, beside the village of Cos, the hamlets of German and Marbuzet together make up a large village of Saint-Estèphe, and in 1982 the estate took the 2 names. A cross put up by the villagers in 1882 stands in the middle of it, between the 2 parts of the vineyard. Marbuzet probably comes from the Latin marga, marl, and buxea, ringed with box. German is the older name on paper. William Franck, whose Traité sur les vins du Médoc first appeared in 1824, lists 2 small holdings at Germain in his edition of 1845, under Fatou and Hazeau fils, at 15 to 20 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels) each, and in 1868 Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, put Hosteins at German among the artisans and peasants of the commune.

The soils are clay and limestone and clay with gravel and sand, over the Eocene limestone of Saint-Estèphe. The 11 hectares are planted to Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Cabernet Franc, with vines 30 years old, and have been certified Haute Valeur Environnementale (High Environmental Value, the French state’s environmental certification for farms) at level 3 since the 2019 vintage. The owner is the Société Fermière des Grands Crus de France; the wine is sold by Crus et Domaines de France, the Bordeaux arm of the Grands Chais de France group, and the estate shares its address with Château Lestage Simon, at Saint-Seurin-de-Cadourne. Vincent Cachau directs it, with advice from Rolland et Associés, the consulting firm of the late Michel Rolland. It is a Cru Bourgeois in the classification of 2025.

At a glance

Appellation

Saint-Estèphe

Commune

Saint-Estèphe, south of Montrose

Classification

Cru Bourgeois in 2025

Owner

Société Fermière des Grands Crus de France, of the Grands Chais de France group

Direction

Vincent Cachau

Consultant

Rolland et Associés

Vineyard

11 hectares; vines of 30 years

Soil

Clay and limestone, clay with gravel and sand, over the Eocene limestone of Saint-Estèphe Terroir of Saint-Estèphe →

Grapes

Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc 10%

Farming

Haute Valeur Environnementale, level 3, since the 2019 vintage

The name

The hamlets of German and Marbuzet, joined in 1982

In history

Small holdings at Germain under Fatou and Hazeau fils in 1845