Château

Château Haut-Carles

shah-TOH oh KARL
How to read this

Capitals mark the stressed syllable. The French r comes from the back of the throat. The recording is the reference.

Haut-Carles is one of the 2 wines of Château de Carles, a castle at Saillans raised in the 15th and 16th centuries on the mound where Charlemagne is said to have camped.

Appellation
Fronsac

The château

Château de Carles took its present form in the 15th and 16th centuries, on the mound at Saillans where, by local tradition, Charlemagne camped. In the 18th century it belonged to the marquise de Boufflers, a friend of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and for more than 100 years it was the house of the Chastenet de Castaing family. Constance and Stéphane Droulers own it today and make 2 wines here, Château de Carles and Haut-Carles.

The 19 hectares lie on clay and limestone over the molasse of the Fronsadais, planted 90% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc and 5% Malbec, with vines 35 years old on average, and are certified Haute Valeur Environnementale (High Environmental Value, the French state’s environmental certification for farms), level 3. The wine is made in temperature-controlled steel vats and aged in French oak.

At a glance

Appellation
Fronsac
Commune
Saillans
Classification
No classification
Owners
Constance and Stéphane Droulers
Vineyard
19 hectares; vines 35 years old on average
Soil
Clay and limestone over the molasse of the Fronsadais Terroir of Fronsac →
Grapes
Merlot 90%, Cabernet Franc 5%, Malbec 5%
Farming
Haute Valeur Environnementale, level 3
Cellar
Temperature-controlled steel vats; French oak
Wines
Haut-Carles; Château de Carles

Sources

Institutions
Vins de Fronsac: Château de Carles, Château de Carles (in French); Mairie de Saillans, Château de Carles

Revised October 13, 2026. How I choose sources

The record

Château Haut-Carles is in the Fronsac appellation.

Private

By invitation only.

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