Château Ripeau

The château

Ripeau is on the map Pierre de Belleyme drew in 1785, and it came out of the breaking up, at the Revolution, of the Corbin seigneury, a holding of the 13th century. Its wine was worth money early. Victorin Pailhas, a merchant, banker and councillor of Libourne, had it by 1868, when Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, put Ripeau among the crus that sold at about the price of the 2es crus, and he was making 30 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels) in 1874. That year Denis and Eugène Bühler, the landscape architects, bought it and laid out the park of 1.5 hectares that is listed today, one of the few in Saint-Émilion. In 1897 Féret ranked it among the 1ers crus of the graves, at 40 tonneaux. Raoul Gunsbourg, director of the Monaco opera, followed after 1908, and Marcel Loubat bought it in 1917. A book on Saint-Émilion published in 1923 called Ripeau, largely in old French vines, “the finished type of the great wines of the Saint-Émilion graves, which proceed from Pomerol and Saint-Émilion at once.”

Cyrille and Nicolas Grégoire bought Ripeau in January 2015. Their family came to wine from the Charentes and from the workshop: their grandfather was a blacksmith and farrier, and their father and grandfather built small vineyard equipment before the family became a world leader in the harvesting machine. Christophe Massie designed the new cellar and winery, and Claude Gros advises on the wine. Ripeau was a Grand Cru Classé in the first list of 1955, and the list approved in September 2022 confirmed it.

The 16 hectares lie in one piece on the northwest plateau of Saint-Émilion, against the line of Pomerol, on lightly gravelly sand over a vein of clay and iron, planted 65% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Franc and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon at 6,600 to 9,600 vines to the hectare; 3.5 hectares were pulled up, drained and replanted in 2018, half Merlot and half Cabernet Franc. Since 2017 the vineyard has been farmed without herbicide, insecticide, fungicide or copper, on organic amendments alone, and part of it is plowed by horse. The grapes come in by hand in perforated crates and ferment cool in stainless steel with temperature control, and the wine is raised entirely in new barrels. The 2023 vintage made 86,000 bottles; Tour de Ripeau is the second wine.

At a glance

Appellation

Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

Commune

Saint-Émilion, on the northwest plateau, against Pomerol

Classification

Grand Cru Classé from the first list of 1955; confirmed in 2022

Owners

Cyrille and Nicolas Grégoire, since January 2015

Consultant

Claude Gros

Vineyard

16 hectares in one piece; 6,600 to 9,600 vines to the hectare

Soil

Lightly gravelly sand over a vein of clay and iron Terroir of Saint-Émilion →

Grapes

Merlot 65%, Cabernet Franc 30%, Cabernet Sauvignon 5%

Farming

No herbicide, insecticide, fungicide or copper since 2017; organic amendments; part plowed by horse

Cellar

Picked by hand into perforated crates; cool fermentation in stainless steel; 100% new barrels

Production

86,000 bottles in 2023

Wines

Château Ripeau; Tour de Ripeau

The park

1.5 hectares, laid out by Denis and Eugène Bühler from 1874, listed

In history

At about the price of the 2es crus in 1868; a 1er cru of the graves at 40 tonneaux in 1897