Château Lyonnat

The château

Lyonnat’s standing is old. Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, list vines at Lyonnat under Drivet from 1868, already at 150 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels) by 1874. From 1893 the Domaine du Lyonnat belonged to Émile Baudou, a merchant at Guîtres, who replanted it on grafted American vines after phylloxera had destroyed it, all but about 15 hectares of French vines that held out. Féret’s Saint-Émilion volume of 1908 called it the first cru of Lussac, selling at the prices of the first crus of Saint-Émilion, at 350 tonneaux, and on March 19, 1914 the syndicate of Bordeaux wine brokers declared its wines comparable to the premiers-seconds crus of Saint-Émilion. For a wine from outside Saint-Émilion itself, that was high standing.

The Milhade family has owned and worked Lyonnat since 1961. It lies in one block, with an island of limestone of 20 hectares facing south and southeast and clay and limestone and silt on the rest; the vines are 90% Merlot and 10% the Cabernets.

The family kept its 72 concrete vats, from 32 to 338 hectoliters, rather than go over to stainless steel, and the wine ferments in them under temperature control. The grand vin (the estate’s first wine) ages 12 months, 50% in French oak barrels and 50% in vat. The other wines are Émotion du Château Lyonnat, Lion du Lyonnat and, since 2021, Les Lionnes du Lyonnat, a tribute to the women who have worked on the wine, from the vine to the sale.

At a glance

Appellation

Lussac-Saint-Émilion

Commune

Lussac

Classification

No classification

Owners

The Milhade family, since 1961

Vineyard

In one block, with an island of limestone of 20 hectares

Soil

An island of limestone of 20 hectares; clay and limestone and silt Terroir of Lussac-Saint-Émilion →

Grapes

Merlot 90%, the Cabernets 10%

Cellar

72 concrete vats; 12 months, 50% in French oak, 50% in vat

Wines

Château Lyonnat; Émotion du Château Lyonnat; Lion du Lyonnat; Les Lionnes du Lyonnat

In history

The first cru of Lussac in 1908; compared by the brokers with the premiers-seconds crus of Saint-Émilion on March 19, 1914