Château Nairac

The estate

Élysée Nairac bought the property in 1777 and gave it his name, and the architect André Mollié built the house in 1786. Early in the 19th century Bernard Capdeville, who owned Broustet, acquired Nairac as well, and the 2 were classified as 1 in 1855; they parted when M. Perpezat bought Nairac in 1906. For much of that century this classified white growth was better known for its red. Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, call it in 1868 the most distinguished growth of the Bas-Barsac, where the red vines were planted on the Médoc system, and give Brunet-Capdeville 5 to 8 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels) of white against 10 to 15 of red; Féret’s Statistique générale of 1874 adds that the wines of Nairac reached the prices of the Médoc crus bourgeois. The white kept shrinking, to 4 tonneaux by 1886 and 2 by 1898, while the red held at 12.

By the 1960s the estate had fallen a long way. Nicolas Tari bought it in 1971 for his daughter Nicole and her husband, the American Tom Heeter, who restored it with the help of the oenologist Émile Peynaud, and their son Nicolas Heeter-Tari made the wine into the 2020s. Since 2022 the estate has been let on a 25 year lease to Terres Bordelaises, and Jean-Marc Dulong, who also directs Château Bastor-Lamontagne, runs it.

The vineyard is 17 hectares on gravel, limestone and clay, planted 90% Sémillon, 6% Sauvignon Blanc and 4% Muscadelle. The grapes are picked by hand, in as many as 11 passes in a difficult year, and the yield averages about 9 hectoliters a hectare. No grand vin (the estate’s first wine) was made in 1977, 1978, 1984 or 2000. Conversion to organic farming began in 2022, and L’Esquisse de Nairac has been the second wine since 2002.

At a glance

Appellation

Barsac; the wines may also be sold as Sauternes

Commune

Barsac

Classification

Deuxième Cru Classé 1855, ranked as Broustet-Nairac

Owners

The Heeter-Tari family, since 1971

Operator

Terres Bordelaises, on a 25 year lease since 2022

Direction

Jean-Marc Dulong

Vineyard

17 hectares; about 9 hectoliters a hectare

Ground

Gravel, limestone and clay

Grapes

Sémillon 90%, Sauvignon Blanc 6%, Muscadelle 4%

Farming

Conversion to organic farming since 2022

Cellar

Picked by hand, as many as 11 passes

Wines

Château Nairac, none made in 1977, 1978, 1984 and 2000; L’Esquisse de Nairac, since 2002

The house

Built in 1786 by the architect André Mollié

In history

12 tonneaux of red against 2 of white in 1898

Sources: Decanter, Château Nairac · INAO, cahier des charges Barsac · Conseil des Grands Crus Classés en 1855, the classified growths