Château Saint-Hilaire

The estate

Adrien Uijttewaal was born in the Limousin to Dutch parents and grew up on a dairy farm. He first came to the Médoc at 18 for the harvest, and in 1982 settled there with his wife Fabienne. He planted his first vines on gravel rises by the estuary at Jau-Dignac-et-Loirac and inland at Queyrac, and built up a herd of Blondes d’Aquitaine on natural meadows. For 10 harvests the grapes went to the cooperative. In 1995 he built his own cellars at Queyrac, beside a house of the 18th century that he and Fabienne restored, and made that year’s wine himself, with the oenologist Éric Boissenot, who has advised from that first vintage on. In 2012 the vineyard reached the deep gravel above the estuary at Valeyrac. Their daughter Elise joined in 2017, and her partner, also named Adrien, in 2021.

The family now works 45 hectares of Médoc in 3 communes, for Château Saint-Hilaire and its sister estate, Château Gémeillan, and keeps 180 Blondes d’Aquitaine, whose manure goes back to the vines; the vineyard holds Terra Vitis and Haute Valeur Environnementale (High Environmental Value, the French state’s environmental certification for farms). Château Saint-Hilaire leans on Cabernet Sauvignon, 55% in the 2019 with 45% Merlot, and ages in barrel. It has been a Cru Bourgeois Supérieur in the classifications of 2020 and 2025. The range also takes in Inattendu, a red not aged in barrel, and a white made from black Cabernet Sauvignon grapes.

At a glance

Appellation

Médoc

Commune

Queyrac

Classification

Cru Bourgeois Supérieur, 2020 and 2025

Owners

The Uijttewaal family, since 1982; Domaines Uijttewaal

Oenologist

Éric Boissenot, since the first vintage, 1995

Vineyard

45 hectares in 3 communes, with Château Gémeillan

Grapes

The 2019: Cabernet Sauvignon 55%, Merlot 45%

Farming

Terra Vitis; Haute Valeur Environnementale; manure from a herd of 180 Blondes d’Aquitaine

Wines

Château Saint-Hilaire; Château Gémeillan; Inattendu; Le Blanc de Noir de Saint-Hilaire

Sources: Domaines Uijttewaal, Château Saint-Hilaire · Domaines Uijttewaal, the property · Domaines Uijttewaal, the wines of Château Saint-Hilaire · Domaines Uijttewaal, the herd · Alliance des Crus Bourgeois du Médoc, Château Saint-Hilaire · Alliance des Crus Bourgeois du Médoc, the classification of 2025 · Alliance des Crus Bourgeois du Médoc, the classification of 2020