Château

Château Quinault L’Enclos

shah-TOH kee-NOH lahn-KLOH
How to read this

Capitals mark the stressed syllable. “ahn” is a nasal vowel: say it through the nose, with no n. The recording is the reference.

A walled vineyard of 19 hectares inside the town of Libourne, on gravel by the Dordogne, run since 2008 by the team of Cheval Blanc: a Grand Cru Classé of 2012 that, like Cheval Blanc, stayed out in 2022.

The château

Quinault L’Enclos is a vineyard in a town. Its 19 hectares lie inside Libourne, behind walls, in the bends of the Dordogne and 6 kilometers from Cheval Blanc, on gravel that has carried vines since Roman Gaul. The soil was never ordinary. In 1893 Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, found it in the Aubert family for 3 generations, with vines on gravel that the phylloxera had never touched: 40 journaux giving about 50 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels) of a light, pleasantly perfumed wine that sold at the price of the better bourgeois of the Médoc and went to Belgium, England and Germany. By 1897 most of the vines were 50 years old and some 100, and P. Aubert was making 75 tonneaux.

The owners of Château Cheval Blanc bought it in 2008, and the team of Cheval Blanc runs it. The vineyard was restructured from 2009, and from the 2011 vintage the wine has been served at Cheval Blanc’s table and shown en primeur (sold as futures, while the wine is still in barrel) beside it. There was no 2013. The vines are 65% Merlot, 21% Cabernet Sauvignon and 14% Cabernet Franc, with Malbec planted since 2024; the Cabernets take a larger share here than in most of Saint-Émilion. The revision of 2012 made Quinault L’Enclos a Grand Cru Classé; like Cheval Blanc, it did not apply for the classification of 2022.

Gravel this close to the Dordogne is unusual in Saint-Émilion, closer in spirit to the Graves. The 2005, which I tasted in November 2025, carries the ripeness and balance of that great vintage with richness and precision, and with the elegance that has become the mark of the house.

At a glance

Appellation
Saint-Émilion Grand Cru
Commune
Libourne, inside the town, by the Dordogne
Classification
Grand Cru Classé in 2012; did not apply in 2022
Owners
The owners of Château Cheval Blanc, since 2008
Direction
The team of Château Cheval Blanc
Vineyard
19 hectares, walled, 6 kilometers from Cheval Blanc
Grapes
Merlot 65%, Cabernet Sauvignon 21%, Cabernet Franc 14%; Malbec planted since 2024
Wines
Château Quinault L’Enclos
In history
The Aubert family for 3 generations in 1893, untouched by phylloxera; 75 tonneaux in 1897

Sources

Institutions
Institut National de l’Origine et de la Qualité, the Saint-Émilion classification of 2022
Its own publications
Château Cheval Blanc: Château Quinault L’Enclos, the team

Revised November 6, 2026. How I choose sources

The record

Château Quinault L’Enclos did not apply for the Saint-Émilion classification of 2022 and holds no rank in the current list. It was a Grand Cru Classé under the classification of 2012.

The Saint-Émilion classification is revised about every 10 years and estates apply to enter it. The current list was announced on September 8, 2022 and made law on December 15, 2022.

Sources: Château Cheval Blanc, Château Quinault L’Enclos · INAO, the Saint-Émilion classification

Private

By invitation only.

Tastings

1

Château Quinault L’Enclos 2005, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

November 1, 2025

Château Quinault L’Enclos 2005, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

On from here

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