Château Grivière

The château

Grivière stands in the village of Blaignan, and it is an old name: Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, listed it among the crus artisans in the first edition of their guide. The frost of February 1956 finished off a vineyard already weakened by crises. François de Rozières set about reviving the château in 1974; in 1988 it passed to the Domaines Barons de Rothschild (Lafite), and in 1990 to new owners, who put up modern buildings and dug an underground cellar. In 2016 the cellars were re-equipped and the estate, its park and its château opened to visitors. Grivière belongs today to the Domaines CGR, with Château La Cardonne and Château Ramafort, and Magali Guyon has shaped its wine for more than 20 years.

The 20 hectares of vines lie on a gentle slope, on a mosaic of sandy clay and stonier clay over limestone, massive or soft, that sometimes breaks the surface. They are planted 60% Merlot and 40% Cabernet Sauvignon at 7,500 vines a hectare, 30 years old on average. The estate took Agriculture Raisonnée in 2006, Terra Vitis in 2017 and Haute Valeur Environnementale (High Environmental Value, the French state’s environmental certification for farms) at level 3 in 2019. The grapes are picked by hand and by machine, each plot is fermented apart as tasting dictates, and the wine spends 12 months in barrels, half new and half of 1 year, and is then aged at least 5 years. There is no 2014: in the early hours of June 9 that year, hail took 80% of the crop. Grivière is a Cru Bourgeois in the classifications of 2020 and 2025.

At a glance

Appellation

Médoc

Commune

Blaignan

Classification

Cru Bourgeois, 2020 and 2025

Owner

Domaines CGR

Direction

Magali Guyon, for more than 20 years

Vineyard

20 hectares; 7,500 vines a hectare; vines 30 years old on average

Soil

Sandy or stony clay over limestone Terroir of Médoc →

Grapes

Merlot 60%, Cabernet Sauvignon 40%

Farming

Agriculture Raisonnée, 2006; Terra Vitis, 2017; Haute Valeur Environnementale, level 3, 2019

Cellar

Plot by plot; 12 months in barrels, half new; at least 5 years of aging

Wines

Château Grivière

The house

Domaines CGR, with Château La Cardonne and Château Ramafort

In history

Revived from 1974; Domaines Barons de Rothschild (Lafite), 1988 to 1990; no 2014, lost to hail