Château La Vieille Cure

The château

La Vieille Cure stands at Saillans, above the confluence of the Isle and the Dordogne, and its story goes back to the 17th century. The trade knew it early. Édouard Féret’s volume on Saint-Émilion and its côtes, published in 1908, lists A La Vieille-Cure among the côtes growths of Saillans, split between Alfred Barraud, at 25 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels), and Ardurat, at 8; by 1922 Bordeaux et ses vins, the guide of Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret that was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, printed it as the Domaine de La Vieille Cure, under R. Barraud, the mayor. Jérôme Pignard, an entrepreneur from Lyon, bought it in 2018, taken with its hills and its views, and he makes no secret of his ambition: to bring La Vieille Cure to the first rank of the Right Bank. Jean-Luc Thunevin, the Saint-Émilion winegrower, and Jean-Philippe Fort, an enologist from Michel Rolland’s firm, work on the wine.

The vines grow on clay and limestone facing southeast: 38 hectares, 75% Merlot, 22% Cabernet Franc and 3% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25 years old on average and certified Haute Valeur Environnementale (High Environmental Value, the French state’s environmental certification for farms), level 3. The wine ages in oak barrels, 90,000 bottles a year, and the second wine is La Sacristie de la Vieille Cure.

At a glance

Appellation

Fronsac

Commune

Saillans

Classification

No classification

Owner

Jérôme Pignard, since 2018

Consultants

Jean-Luc Thunevin; Jean-Philippe Fort, enologist

Vineyard

38 hectares; vines 25 years old on average

Soil

Clay and limestone, facing southeast Terroir of Fronsac →

Grapes

Merlot 75%, Cabernet Franc 22%, Cabernet Sauvignon 3%

Farming

Haute Valeur Environnementale, level 3

Cellar

Oak barrels

Production

90,000 bottles a year

Wines

Château La Vieille Cure; La Sacristie de la Vieille Cure

In history

A La Vieille-Cure under Alfred Barraud, 25 tonneaux, in 1908; the Domaine de La Vieille Cure in 1922