Château Pierre de Montignac

The estate

Pierre and Paulette Sallette bought the farm at Civrac-en-Médoc in the 1960s for milk and cereals, and turned to beef cattle in 1984. Pierre died in 1987. His son José and José’s wife Lucette came back, planted the first hectares of vines in 1988 and named the estate for him; frost held back the first harvest until 1990. Romain Sallette, born in 1983, trained in viticulture and oenology and joined full time in 2003, and has run the estate since José’s death in 2015; Marie Sallette joined in 2020, when Lucette retired. Lucette had opened guest rooms and holiday cottages in 2003, and they are still let. The ground has an older past in wine than the family: Charles Cocks, whose guide to the wines of Bordeaux appeared in French in 1850, lists growers at Montignac that year, Coutaut at 25 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels) and J. Juillac at 15, and the Juillac holdings stay among the crus artisans of the Bordeaux guides until 1899.

The 25 hectares moved step by step: reasoned farming in 2006, AREA in 2011, Haute Valeur Environnementale (High Environmental Value, the French state’s environmental certification for farms) at level 3 in 2018, the start of the conversion to organic farming in 2020, and the 2023 as the first harvest certified organic. Château Pierre de Montignac is 50% Merlot, 45% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Petit Verdot, about 120,000 bottles a year, and a Cru Bourgeois Supérieur in the classifications of 2020 and 2025. The family also bottles 3 single varieties: Cabanus, from Merlot; a Petit Verdot; and Cuvée Théa, from Cabernet Sauvignon.

At a glance

Appellation

Médoc

Commune

Civrac-en-Médoc

Classification

Cru Bourgeois Supérieur, 2020 and 2025

Owners

The Sallette family; Romain Sallette since 2015, with Marie Sallette since 2020

Vineyard

25 hectares, planted from 1988

Grapes

Merlot 50%, Cabernet Sauvignon 45%, Petit Verdot 5%

Farming

Organic, certified from the 2023 harvest; Haute Valeur Environnementale, level 3, since 2018

Production

About 120,000 bottles a year

Wines

Château Pierre de Montignac; Cabanus; Petit Verdot; Cuvée Théa

In history

Growers at Montignac, in Civrac, in 1850

Sources: Château Pierre de Montignac · Château Pierre de Montignac, the Sallette family · Château Pierre de Montignac, the red wines · Château Pierre de Montignac, organic farming · Alliance des Crus Bourgeois du Médoc, Château Pierre de Montignac · Alliance des Crus Bourgeois du Médoc, the classification of 2025 · Alliance des Crus Bourgeois du Médoc, the classification of 2020