Château Puygueraud

The château

Puygueraud was known to the trade in the 19th century. Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, list Château Puyguereau, as they spelled it until 1886, among the crus bourgeois of Saint-Cibard in 1874, and their English edition of 1883 describes an estate of 59 hectares, 18 of them in vines, the reds on a clay and limestone hill giving a full, well-colored wine ranked with the best of Puisseguin. Madame Paignac, a widow by 1886, owned it from 1883 to 1908, and in 1922 it belonged to René Itey de Peironnin. In 1946 George and Monica Thienpont, who came from Flanders, moved in and restored the 15th-century château; their family of wine merchants had had a stake in Vieux Château Certan, in Pomerol, since 1924. After years of mixed farming the vines were replanted from the end of the 1970s, and the first vintage was the 1983, made by their son Nicolas, who has worked with his own son Cyrille since 2009.

The vines lie in 67 parcels on a rocky plateau over the Dordogne valley, on clay and limestone, with asteriated limestone, marl and clay beneath. The grand vin (the estate’s first wine) is mostly Merlot, with Cabernet Franc and a touch of Malbec; the 2021 was fermented as whole berries in concrete and stainless steel and aged 12 to 16 months in wooden vats and barrels, one third of the barrels new. The white, of Sauvignon Blanc and Sauvignon Gris, spends 6 months on fine lees in vat. George, made only in years when the Malbec is good enough, is at least 80% Malbec with Cabernet Franc, a tribute to Nicolas’s father, who loved the grape; Château Lauriol is the second wine. Grégoire Pernot du Breuil is managing director and Grégory Berthet cellar master.

At a glance

Appellation

Francs Côtes de Bordeaux

Commune

Saint-Cibard

Classification

No classification

Owners

The Thienpont family, since 1946

Direction

Nicolas and Cyrille Thienpont; Grégoire Pernot du Breuil, managing director; Grégory Berthet, cellar master

Vineyard

67 parcels on a rocky plateau over the Dordogne valley

Soil

Clay and limestone over asteriated limestone, marl and clay Terroir of Francs Côtes de Bordeaux →

Grapes

Mostly Merlot, with Cabernet Franc and some Malbec; white, Sauvignon Blanc and Sauvignon Gris

Cellar

Concrete and stainless steel; 12 to 16 months in wooden vats and barrels, one third new

Wines

Château Puygueraud, red and white; George; Château Lauriol

The house

The Thienponts of Vieux Château Certan

In history

A cru bourgeois of Saint-Cibard in 1874; 59 hectares, 18 of them in vines, in 1883