Château Peyrabon

The château

The oldest written trace of Peyrabon dates from 1766, and François Badimont gave the house its 4 towers in 1821. Its great character was Arnaud Armand Roux, a merchant who took on the classification of 1855. Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, print Peyrabon among the crus bourgeois supérieurs in 1874, under A. Roux, with a notice that they had visited the vineyard in 1871, tasted several vintages in the cellar and judged that they could rival the superior growths of the Médoc. By 1875 Roux was selling its wines at the prices of the classed growths and challenging the classification. From 1886 to 1922 the guide printed Peyrabon under a heading of its own, a cru never sold to the trade, and in 1922 added that Roux had made it known in the highest society of Europe, where it was paid like the best classed growths.

The Babeau family bought parcels from Château Liversan in 1977, Patrick Bernard, of Millésima, bought the estate in 1998, and in September 2022 the Héritiers Castéja, the family of Château Batailley and Château Lynch-Moussas, bought it from the Millésima group. Xavier Michelet directs the winemaking, with Éric Boissenot as consultant.

The vineyard is 36.57 hectares at Saint-Sauveur-en-Médoc, a few kilometers from Pauillac, in 33 parcels all beside the château, on draining Garonne gravel over clay. It is planted 57% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petit Verdot, 29 years old on average, with the oldest parcels over 70. The wine is fermented parcel by parcel in temperature-controlled vats for 15 to 24 days, goes through malolactic in barrel and ages 14 months, 25% in new oak; the estate makes about 120,000 bottles a year. Château Pierbone is the second wine, and Château La Fleur Peyrabon, 5 hectares of Pauillac, is made alongside. It was a Cru Bourgeois Supérieur in the classifications of 2020 and 2025.

At a glance

Appellation

Haut-Médoc

Commune

Saint-Sauveur-en-Médoc

Classification

Cru Bourgeois Supérieur, 2020 and 2025

Owner

Héritiers Castéja, since September 2022; Millésima from 1998

Direction

Xavier Michelet

Consultant

Éric Boissenot

Vineyard

36.57 hectares in 33 parcels; vines 29 years old on average

Soil

Garonne gravel over clay Terroir of Haut-Médoc →

Grapes

Cabernet Sauvignon 57%, Merlot 35%, Cabernet Franc 5%, Petit Verdot 3%

Cellar

Parcel by parcel; malolactic in barrel; 14 months, 25% new oak

Production

About 120,000 bottles

Wines

Château Peyrabon; Château Pierbone, the second wine; Château La Fleur Peyrabon, Pauillac

In history

A cru never sold to the trade, 1886 to 1922