Château Raymond-Lafon

The estate

Raymond Lafon created the vineyard in the 19th century, too late for the classification of 1855, and the trade books picked it up soon after. Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, list Château-Raymond-Lafon among the 2nd crus of Sauternes from 1874, at 10 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels), and their notice of 1886 gives 8 hectares, some of the vines mingled with those of Château d’Yquem and some from the best ground of the old Château d’Arche, with a silver medal in 1878 and gold medals in 1879 and at Bordeaux in 1882. Louis Pontallier inherited it in 1904.

The estate was later neglected, and in 1972 Pierre Meslier, a former manager of Château d’Yquem, bought it and restored it; his 3 children, Marie-Françoise, Charles-Henri and Jean-Pierre Meslier, run it today. The 16 hectares lie in Sauternes, Bommes and Preignac, most of them around the château, next to Yquem and surrounded by the first growths of the appellation, and the family makes the wine by the methods Pierre Meslier knew at Yquem. Yields are about 9 hectoliters a hectare, and in a usual year 20% to 80% of the crop is declassified. At those figures this is winemaking by subtraction.

At a glance

Appellation

Sauternes

Commune

Sauternes

Classification

No classification

Owners

The Meslier family, since 1972

Direction

Marie-Françoise, Charles-Henri and Jean-Pierre Meslier

Vineyard

16 hectares in Sauternes, Bommes and Preignac, mostly around the château, next to Yquem

Production

About 9 hectoliters a hectare; 20% to 80% of the crop declassified

Not to be confused with

Château Lafon, Sauternes, of the Lafon family in the old trade books

In history

A 2nd cru of Sauternes under Raymond Lafon from 1874; 8 hectares in 1886; Louis Pontallier from 1904

Sources: Château Raymond-Lafon, tasting · Sauternes-Barsac, the history