Château Montaiguillon

The château

Montaiguillon was already a serious property at the end of the 19th century. Édouard Féret, co-author of Bordeaux et ses vins, the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, lists it in his Les vins de l’arrondissement de Libourne of 1897 among the crus bourgeois and first artisans of Montagne, under Raymond de Seguin, at 100 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels): an estate of 25 hectares, about 20 of them vines on clay and limestone, planted with Cabernet, Malbec and Merlot in equal parts, with a gold medal from the comice viticole of Saint-Émilion and wines ranked among the best of the commune. De Seguin still held it in 1908.

Abel Rigou, great-grandfather of today’s owners, bought Montaiguillon in 1949. His daughter Geneviève and her husband Roger Amart restored it and built up its sales in bottle; in the 1950s Roger opened the Belgian market, which stayed its first outlet for 40 years, and their daughters Chantal and Monique took the wine further, to Quebec and to China. Since Chantal’s death in 2016 her son Mathieu and his cousin Oliver, the 4th generation, have carried it on.

The estate sits on a hilltop bordering the Pomerol and Saint-Émilion appellations. Of its 28 hectares of vines, most are Montagne-Saint-Émilion and 2 are Saint-Georges-Saint-Émilion, planted 60% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon on clay and limestone. It makes 140,000 bottles a year, 80% of them exported, to Canada, China, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Luxembourg and the United States. Château Montaiguillon ages at least 1 year in oak barrels; L’Apogée de Montaiguillon, a Saint-Georges, is raised in amphorae and new barrels, and Château Vieux Montaiguillon is also a Saint-Georges.

At a glance

Appellation

Montagne-Saint-Émilion; Saint-Georges-Saint-Émilion

Commune

Montagne

Classification

No classification

Owners

The family of Abel Rigou, since 1949; today Mathieu and Oliver, the 4th generation

Vineyard

28 hectares, 2 of them Saint-Georges-Saint-Émilion

Soil

Clay and limestone Terroir of Montagne-Saint-Émilion →

Grapes

Merlot 60%, Cabernet Franc 20%, Cabernet Sauvignon 20%

Cellar

At least 1 year in oak barrels; L’Apogée in amphorae and new barrels

Production

140,000 bottles a year, 80% exported

Wines

Château Montaiguillon; L’Apogée de Montaiguillon; Château Vieux Montaiguillon

In history

Under Raymond de Seguin, 25 hectares and 100 tonneaux, in 1897