Château Guadet

The château

Élie Guadet was born in Saint-Émilion on July 20, 1755. He presided over the Assemblée nationale early in 1792 and over the Convention that autumn, and when the Terror turned on his party he hid in the cellars that run under the properties of the town. He was found and guillotined with his family in 1794. In 1844 the Lignac family bought the Saint-Julien estate from the Guadets and called it Château Guadet Saint-Julien, and 7 generations later it is still theirs. The old books placed it well: in 1908 a volume on Saint-Émilion by Édouard Féret, whose guide with Charles Cocks was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, counted the Cru Guadet-Saint-Julien among the first growths, at 18 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels), near the ramparts and in the middle of the best crus of the slopes, and the guide of 1922 still had it at 18.

Guadet was a Grand Cru Classé from the first classification. The list of 2006, later annulled by the courts, left it out; the revision of 2012 put it back, and the list of September 2022 confirmed it. The same years brought a new generation. Guy-Petrus Lignac came back to the estate in 2000 with his wife Catherine, shortened the name to Château Guadet in 2005 and began farming organically in 2008. His son Vincent Lignac has run it since 2009; he started biodynamics in 2011, and the estate was certified organic by Ecocert in 2013 and biodynamic in 2015.

The 5 hectares sit on the limestone plateau, 100 meters from the town, on shallow clay over limestone, planted 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc. The vines get horn silica, horn manure and Maria Thun compost, and the grapes are picked by hand, plot by plot, when they taste ready. Nothing is added in the cellar, and the wine spends 12 to 20 months in barrels, amphorae and foudres, for as long as each lot needs. The garden is a registered bird refuge.

At a glance

Appellation

Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

Commune

Saint-Émilion, on the limestone plateau 100 meters from the town

Classification

Grand Cru Classé from the first list; off the annulled list of 2006; back in 2012 and 2022

Owners

The Lignac family, since 1844

Direction

Vincent Lignac, since 2009

Vineyard

5 hectares

Soil

Shallow clay over limestone Terroir of Saint-Émilion →

Grapes

Merlot 80%, Cabernet Franc 20%

Farming

Organic from 2008, certified by Ecocert in 2013; biodynamic from 2011, certified in 2015

Cellar

Picked by hand, plot by plot; no additives; 12 to 20 months in barrels, amphorae and foudres

Wines

Château Guadet

In history

Guadet-Saint-Julien, a first growth near the ramparts, at 18 tonneaux in 1908 and 1922