Château Paloumey

The château

Paloumey is Gascon for the place where the wood pigeons pass, and the estate lies at Ludon-Médoc, among the classified growths of Cantemerle and La Lagune. It had a good 19th century. William Franck, whose Traité sur les vins du Médoc first appeared in 1824, lists it in 1845 under Aguirre Vengoa and Uribarren at 25 to 30 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels), and Charles Cocks, in Bordeaux, ses environs et ses vins of 1850, at 55. Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, carry it under Vazquez from 1868 to 1886; by 1893 it belonged to F. Marot, and their notice describes 35 hectares of vines on the gravel of Ludon, much improved under him, making full, fragrant wines much liked in Holland and Belgium. The edition of 1898 ranks it a cru bourgeois supérieur at 60 tonneaux. Then phylloxera and the 2 world wars brought it down, and the vineyard was pulled up in the middle of the 20th century.

When the Cazeneuve family arrived in 1989 there were no vines and no cellars. Martine Cazeneuve rebuilt the estate in partnership with the Savare family of Château Franc Mayne in Saint-Émilion: a cellar for fermenting plot by plot was finished in 1993, a barrel cellar in 1997, and work on a tasting room began in 2004. Pierre Cazeneuve, an agricultural engineer, came back for good in 2015, began the conversion to organic farming in 2016 and had it certified with the 2019 vintage. Pascal Lamarque is technical manager. The classification of February 2025 made Paloumey a Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel, 1 of 14, 36 years after the family arrived to bare land.

The vineyard is 37 hectares, 27 at Ludon-Médoc and 10 at Cussac-Fort-Médoc, planted 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 44% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petit Verdot. In 2020 the vines were 25 years old on average, planted at 7,200 a hectare, and the grapes went through a double sorting, by machine and then by hand. The wine macerated 20 to 26 days after fermentation, made 30% of its malolactic in new barrels and spent 12 months entirely in barrel, 1 barrel in 3 new; the vintage came to 70,000 bottles. Ailes de Paloumey, the second wine, created in 1992 and mostly Merlot, has been certified organic since the 2021 vintage. The family also makes Château La Bessane in Margaux and Château La Garricq in Moulis.

At a glance

Appellation

Haut-Médoc Terroir of Haut-Médoc →

Commune

Ludon-Médoc, with vines at Cussac-Fort-Médoc

Classification

Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel in 2025, 1 of 14

Owners

The Cazeneuve family, since 1989, with the Savare family

Direction

Pierre Cazeneuve, since 2015; Pascal Lamarque, technical manager

Vineyard

37 hectares, 27 at Ludon-Médoc and 10 at Cussac-Fort-Médoc; 7,200 vines a hectare

Grapes

Cabernet Sauvignon 50%, Merlot 44%, Cabernet Franc 3%, Petit Verdot 3%

Farming

Organic from 2016, certified with the 2019 vintage

Cellar

Plot by plot; the 2020: 12 months in barrel, 1 barrel in 3 new

Production

The 2020: 70,000 bottles

Wines

Château Paloumey; Ailes de Paloumey, since 1992; from the family, Château La Bessane and Château La Garricq

The name

Gascon for the place where the wood pigeons pass

In history

F. Marot, 35 hectares of vines; a cru bourgeois supérieur in 1898