Château Lamothe de Haux

The château

Château Lamothe de Haux, whose wines are labeled Château Lamothe, stands at Haux, 30 minutes from Bordeaux, on more than 25 hectares of clay and limestone slopes. The limestone was laid down by the sea some 30 million years ago, and in the 17th century it was quarried out from under the property into more than 8 kilometers of galleries, where the family now ages and stores its wines. The trade books knew the place early: Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, listed Château Lamothe at Haux under Faget de Quennefer in 1868, and wrote that the whites of the commune, above all those of its southern part, were a little sweet, fragrant and very fine. It made 30 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels) of red and 10 of white in 1874; from 1893 the books print it simply as Lamothe, under Aradel, at 20 tonneaux of red and 5 of white, and in 1922 under Caillet. The Néel-Chombart family has run the vineyard since 1956, passing it from mother to daughter over 4 generations.

The estate grows Sauvignon Blanc, Sauvignon Gris, Sémillon, Muscadelle and Colombard for its whites and Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon for its reds, and makes about 250,000 bottles a year, 60% dry white and 40% red. It holds Haute Valeur Environnementale (High Environmental Value, the French state’s environmental certification for farms), keeps beehives, grasses its rows, treats its wastewater biologically and also grows truffles. The reds are Cadillac Côtes de Bordeaux: Château Lamothe, the Première Cuvée and Valentine par Valentine. Château Lamothe Blanc, Valentine par Valentine Blanc and the rosé Miette are Bordeaux, and there is a sweet Cadillac, Château Manos. Valentine, who trained in design, personalizes bottles, and in 2024 she and Antoine, the 4th generation, created Goguette, a sparkling cocktail of wine at 6% alcohol, in red, white and spritz, from the family habit of turning the ends of bottles into cocktails at aperitif time.

At a glance

Appellation

Cadillac Côtes de Bordeaux, red; Bordeaux, white and rosé; Cadillac, sweet Terroir of Cadillac Côtes de Bordeaux →

Commune

Haux

Classification

No classification

Owners

The Néel-Chombart family, since 1956, from mother to daughter over 4 generations

Vineyard

More than 25 hectares of clay and limestone slopes

Grapes

White: Sauvignon Blanc, Sauvignon Gris, Sémillon, Muscadelle, Colombard. Red: Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon

Farming

Haute Valeur Environnementale

Cellar

More than 8 kilometers of limestone quarries dug under the property in the 17th century

Production

About 250,000 bottles, 60% dry white and 40% red

Wines

Château Lamothe, red and white; Première Cuvée; Valentine par Valentine; Château Manos, sweet; Miette, rosé; Goguette, since 2024

In history

Château Lamothe under Faget de Quennefer in 1868; 30 tonneaux of red and 10 of white in 1874