Château Guiraud

The estate

The estate was La Maison Noble du Bayle when Pierre Guiraud, a Bordeaux merchant, bought it in 1766, and its rank is older than the list. André Jullien, the Paris wine merchant whose Topographie de tous les vignobles connus surveyed the vineyards of the world, gave Sauternes 2 first growths in his edition of 1832, Yquem at 80 to 90 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels) and the vines of M. Guiraut at 50 to 60, and the English writer Charles Cocks put Guiraud at 55 in 1850. The brokers of 1855 still ranked it under the old name, Château Bayle, and in 1874 Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, were printing Guiraud beside it in parentheses. The Bernard family held it from 1862, and in 1908 it was, with Yquem, the only first growth standing in the commune of Sauternes.

The Narby family bought Guiraud in 1981 and brought in Xavier Planty to run it. In 1996 Planty began farming his own section without chemicals, the rest of the estate followed, and the 2011 vintage was the first to carry the French organic mark; no classified growth of Sauternes had done it before. In 2006 the property passed to a group of 4, Robert Peugeot, Olivier Bernard of Domaine de Chevalier, Stephan von Neipperg and Planty himself, and in October 2021 Matthieu Gufflet took a majority holding.

About 100 hectares of vines lie inside a larger estate, with an unusually high share of Sauvignon for the appellation, beside Sémillon and a little Muscadelle. The estate keeps a conservatory of more than 135 selections of Sémillon and Sauvignon Blanc, and more than 630 species of insect have been counted on its ground. The grapes are picked by hand in 3 to 6 passes, berry by berry, at more than 300 grams of sugar a liter, and the wine is never chaptalized. Petit Guiraud is the second wine and G de Guiraud the dry white; since 2018 there has been a restaurant in the chapel.

At a glance

Appellation

Sauternes

Commune

Sauternes

Classification

Premier Cru Classé 1855, ranked as Château Bayle

Owner

Matthieu Gufflet, majority holding since October 2021

Vineyard

About 100 hectares inside a larger estate

Grapes

Sémillon and Sauvignon Blanc, with a little Muscadelle; an unusually high share of Sauvignon for Sauternes

Farming

Certified organic with the 2011 vintage; farmed without chemicals from 1996

Cellar

Picked by hand in 3 to 6 passes, berry by berry, above 300 grams of sugar a liter; never chaptalized

Wines

Château Guiraud; Petit Guiraud; G de Guiraud, dry

On the estate

A conservatory of more than 135 selections of Sémillon and Sauvignon Blanc; more than 630 insect species; a restaurant in the chapel since 2018

Sources: Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux, Château Guiraud · The Drinks Business, Château Guiraud awarded the organic logo · Peugeot Invest, Château Guiraud changes its shareholding structure · INAO, cahier des charges Sauternes