Château La Tour Blanche

The estate

In 1846 the English writer Charles Cocks, in Bordeaux: Its Wines and the Claret Country, called Yquem and La Tour Blanche rivals. The owner then was Frédéric Focke, a German merchant who had bought about 20 hectares in 1815 and planted Riesling beside the Sémillon, and Cocks gave him 60 to 70 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels) at Bommes. In 1855 the brokers put La Tour Blanche at the head of the Premiers Crus, the first name under Yquem, and by 1898 the estate covered 70 hectares, 40 of them in vine.

Daniel Iffla, a financier who signed himself Osiris, bought La Tour Blanche at auction in 1876. He died in February 1907 and left it to the French State on 1 condition: that a free and practical school of viticulture and winemaking be founded there. The Ministry of Agriculture accepted the bequest in 1909 and the school opened on the estate in 1911. It is a public agricultural lycée today, and the labels still read Donation Osiris. School and wine business are run as separate concerns on the same ground: the students work in the vineyard and the cellar, and the cellar master makes the wine.

The vineyard is about 40 hectares of white on the Bommes slope, with 4 hectares of red beside it, planted 83% Sémillon, 12% Sauvignon Blanc and 5% Muscadelle. The grapes are picked by hand in 5 or 6 passes, for about 11 hectoliters a hectare, and the wine spends 16 to 18 months in oak. In 1992, 1993 and 2000 no grand vin (the estate’s first wine) was made at all. Les Charmilles de La Tour Blanche has been the second wine since 1996, Les Jardins de Thinoy is the dry white, and Cru du Cinquet the red, sold as Bordeaux.

At a glance

Appellation

Sauternes

Commune

Bommes

Classification

Premier Cru Classé 1855, the first name under Yquem

Owner

The French State, by the will of Daniel Iffla, called Osiris; the bequest accepted in 1909

Vineyard

About 40 hectares of white, with 4 hectares of red beside it

Grapes

Sémillon 83%, Sauvignon Blanc 12%, Muscadelle 5%

Cellar

Picked by hand in 5 or 6 passes; about 11 hectoliters a hectare; 16 to 18 months in oak

Wines

Château La Tour Blanche; Les Charmilles de La Tour Blanche, since 1996; Les Jardins de Thinoy, dry; Cru du Cinquet, red, sold as Bordeaux

The school

Opened on the estate in 1911; a public agricultural lycée today

Years with no grand vin

1992, 1993, 2000

Sources: Lycée viticole de La Tour Blanche, the history of the estate · Château La Tour Blanche, the estate · Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux, Château La Tour Blanche · INAO, cahier des charges Sauternes