Château Grand Renouil

The château

Renouil is an old name on these slopes. Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, printed it as a place at Saint-Michel-de-Fronsac, among the côtes of Canon-Fronsac, from 1868 to 1922, and in the first côtes from 1874 to 1908: under Teyssandier, at 12 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels), in 1874; under the Pistouley family from 1893 to 1908, at 25 tonneaux from 1897; and under Lavaud in 1922. The Ponty family’s own story here runs back to Hélène Ponty’s great-grandfather, who devised the estate’s first cuvées. The vines of Grand Renouil came into the family in 1938, with the dowry her grandmother’s family brought to her marriage with Hélène Ponty’s grandfather. She grew up on it, studied law and business, lived in the United States and in China, and came back in September 2019 to take the property over. The estate covers 7 hectares, farmed organically and biodynamically with as few interventions and inputs as possible, and its wines are Château Grand Renouil, Château du Pavillon, Petit Renouil, L’An-Clos and Rosa.

Grand Renouil is the estate’s wine from the plateau: 2 hectares of the family’s old vines, 80 years old on average, 100% Merlot and certified organic. It is aged entirely in barrel, for 1 year in new barrels and barrels after 1 wine, and makes about 9,000 bottles a year, as a wine to keep.

At a glance

Appellation

Canon-Fronsac

Classification

No classification

Owners

The Ponty family, since 1938, Domaine Ponty; Hélène Ponty, since September 2019

Vineyard

2 hectares, vines 80 years old on average; the estate 7 hectares

Soil

The limestone plateau of Canon-Fronsac Terroir of Canon-Fronsac →

Grapes

Merlot 100%

Farming

Organic, certified; the estate also farms biodynamically

Cellar

Entirely in barrel, 1 year, new and after 1 wine

Production

About 9,000 bottles a year

Wines

Château Grand Renouil; also Château du Pavillon, Petit Renouil, L’An-Clos and Rosa

In history

Renouil, among the côtes of Canon-Fronsac, 1868 to 1922; 25 tonneaux from 1897