Château Poujeaux

The château

Poujeaux lies in one unbroken parcel on the gravel slopes of Grand-Poujeaux, northeast of Moulis. From the 16th century the place was known as La Salle de Poujeaux, the name its second wine carries; the land had belonged to Latour Saint Mambert, today Château Latour, and the name Château Poujeaux first appears in 1806. Charles Cocks, in Bordeaux, ses environs et ses vins of 1850, puts Château Poujeaux first in the Moulis list, under Castaing, at 120 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels), and finds the best wines of the commune on the properties around the village of Poujeaux. The Castaing family won silver medals with it at Paris in 1867 and 1878.

Then it came apart. By 1883 Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, in Bordeaux et ses vins, the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, print it in 3 shares, under Philippe Castaing, Eugène Clauzel and Louis Clavière, at 35 tonneaux each, and in 1922 they still list it in parts among the crus bourgeois supérieurs. The Theil family, owners from 1921 to 2008, put it back together: in 1956 it regained its historic shape, 100 hectares with 70 of vines.

The Cuvelier family, already owners of Clos Fourtet in Saint-Émilion, bought Poujeaux in 2008, and in 2013 added Clos Saint-Martin, Les Grandes Murailles and Côte de Baleau there. Matthieu Cuvelier and Christophe Labenne run it, and the vineyard and cellar teams work with the advice of Stéphane Derenoncourt. The vineyard is 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot and 5% Cabernet Franc on gravel of the Günz glaciation, with vines 35 years old on average, and the wine spends 12 months in French oak barrels.

At a glance

Appellation

Moulis

Commune

Moulis-en-Médoc, Grand-Poujeaux

Classification

No classification

Owners

The Cuvelier family, since 2008

Direction

Matthieu Cuvelier and Christophe Labenne

Consultant

Stéphane Derenoncourt

Vineyard

One unbroken parcel; vines 35 years old on average

Soil

Gravel of the Günz glaciation Terroir of Moulis →

Grapes

Cabernet Sauvignon 50%, Merlot 40%, Petit Verdot 5%, Cabernet Franc 5%

Cellar

12 months in French oak barrels

Wines

Château Poujeaux; La Salle de Château Poujeaux

The house

Also Clos Fourtet, Clos Saint-Martin, Les Grandes Murailles and Côte de Baleau, Saint-Émilion

In history

First of Moulis, at 120 tonneaux, in 1850; in 3 shares by 1883; whole again in 1956