Château Pey La Tour

The estate

The lordship here goes back to the Middle Ages. Near the winery stands the feudal mound called La Tour, with its stone enclosure and moat, first mentioned in the 11th century, and English harness of the 14th century still turns up in the vineyard now and then. The families of Montpezat, de la Mota de Roquetaillade, Dupérier de Larsan and Gouteyron-Libéral held it in turn. Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, found the Château de La Tour at Salleboeuf under H. Sclafer in 1874, making 30 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels) of red. By 1898 A. Villeneuve owned it, with 70 tonneaux of red and 10 of white, and the guide told its story: a château of the 13th century that had belonged to Bertrand de Got, archbishop of Bordeaux, who became Pope Clement V and founded the cru of Pape Clément, with a domain of 50 hectares, much of it vines. The English edition of 1899 adds that its white came from a grape called Saint-Pierre. In 1922 the widow Villeneuve held it.

Dourthe bought the estate in 1990 and in 2002 renamed it Pey La Tour, pey meaning a small hill in the local tongue. Its 135 hectares hold 124 of Merlot, 5.5 of Cabernet Sauvignon, 4 of Cabernet Franc and 1.5 of Petit Verdot, in about 90 parcels on clay and limestone and on small gravel in a clay and sandy-clay matrix. The vines are pruned in the Guyot Poussard style, plowed and weeded mechanically, and the estate carries the Terra Vitis and Haute Valeur Environnementale (High Environmental Value, the French state’s environmental certification for farms) labels; since 2013 it has planted 500 trees and bushes. The wine is made parcel by parcel in temperature-controlled stainless steel. Château Pey La Tour is a Bordeaux; the Réserve du Château, a Bordeaux Supérieur, spends 12 to 14 months in the barrel hall. Jérôme Carbonne manages the estate, and a hotel and restaurant stand on the property.

At a glance

Appellations

Bordeaux; the Réserve du Château, Bordeaux Supérieur

Commune

Salleboeuf

Classification

No classification

Owner

Dourthe, since 1990

Direction

Jérôme Carbonne, estate manager

Vineyard

135 hectares in about 90 parcels

Ground

Clay and limestone; small gravel in clay and sandy clay

Grapes

Merlot 124 hectares, Cabernet Sauvignon 5.5, Cabernet Franc 4, Petit Verdot 1.5

Farming

Terra Vitis; Haute Valeur Environnementale

Cellar

Parcel by parcel in stainless steel; the Réserve 12 to 14 months in barrel

Wines

Château Pey La Tour, Bordeaux; Château Pey La Tour Réserve du Château, Bordeaux Supérieur

In history

Château de La Tour, 30 tonneaux in 1874; in 1898 a domain of 50 hectares, once Bertrand de Got’s

Sources: Dourthe, Château Pey La Tour · Dourthe, Château Pey La Tour, the wine · Dourthe, Château Pey La Tour Réserve du Château · Pey La Tour, the hotel