Château La Serre

The château

The Franciscans of the Couvent des Cordeliers worked this land in the 15th century, and the house was probably built at the end of the 17th by Romain de Labayme. By the middle of the 19th century La Serre stood among the best of Saint-Émilion. William Franck’s Traité sur les vins du Médoc, in its edition of 1853, lists it under Marcon, and in 1868 Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, put Mme Marcon’s 8 to 10 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels) among the first growths, beside La Madeleine, Pavie and Soutard. Albert Macquin, who owned it from 1887, built an estate of 26 hectares around it, 9 of them Château La Serre, in one piece facing the apse of the church, and made 65 tonneaux in 1893.

Bernard d’Arfeuille, a Libourne wine merchant, bought La Serre in 1956. His son Luc d’Arfeuille took over in 1970 and rebuilt the vineyard, and Luc’s nephew Arnaud d’Arfeuille joined him in 2013. Thomas Duclos, of Oenoteam, advises on the wine.

The vines stand at the top of the plateau, 80 meters up and facing south, on a thin layer of clay, 30 centimeters to 1 meter deep, over the asteriated limestone; 63 ares lie apart on the Francazat slope, over blue clay. Old quarries run under the vines in galleries on several levels, and 400 meters of dry-stone walls are kept up for what lives in them. The planting is 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc, with more Cabernet Franc going in since 2015 toward 25%. A team of 25 picks by hand and the grapes are sorted 3 times; since 2018 a vat house of 7 concrete vats of 50 to 80 hectoliters, 1 to a parcel, takes them, with punch-downs by hand and a small vertical press. The wine spends 13 to 15 months in barrel, half new and half of 1 wine.

At a glance

Appellation

Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

Commune

Saint-Émilion, on the top of the limestone plateau, 200 meters from the ramparts

Classification

Grand Cru Classé, 2022

Owners

The d’Arfeuille family, since 1956

Direction

Luc d’Arfeuille, since 1970; Arnaud d’Arfeuille, since 2013

Consultant

Thomas Duclos

Vineyard

7 hectares, 63 ares of them on the Francazat slope

Soil

A thin layer of clay, 30 centimeters to 1 meter, over asteriated limestone; blue clay at Francazat Terroir of Saint-Émilion →

Grapes

Merlot 80%, Cabernet Franc 20%

Cellar

Picked by hand by a team of 25; 3 sortings; 7 concrete vats of 50 to 80 hectoliters, 1 to a parcel; 13 to 15 months in barrel, half new

Wines

Château La Serre

In history

Among the first growths of Saint-Émilion in 1868