Château Saint-Pierre

The estate

The property was called Serançan until a baron de Saint-Pierre bought it in 1767 and gave it his name, and it began coming apart almost at once. In 1853 William Franck’s Traité sur les vins du Médoc printed Saint-Pierre in 2 parts, under Bontemps du Barry and under Roullet and Galoupeau, each making 25 to 35 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels), and Armand d’Armailhacq, a Pauillac grower, gave the shares in his La culture des vignes of 1855 as 18, 9 and 9 hectares. Later editions of the trade books added Saint-Pierre-Sevaistre, and by 1893 a fragment called Saint-Pierre-Maurenx, down to 8 tonneaux. The Antwerp house Van den Bussche began the reassembly, buying the Sevaistre vineyard in 1922 and the Bontemps-Dubarry vineyard in 1923. Henri Martin finished it in 1982, buying the château and the Sevaistre vineyard.

Not all of the old vineyard came home. Martin’s father Alfred had bought prime parcels of it, and Henri folded them into Château Gloria, the unclassified estate he assembled himself, so part of a classified growth lies inside an estate with no rank. Martin was mayor of Saint-Julien-Beychevelle from 1947 to 1989, and his family, the Martins and the Triauds, hold Saint-Pierre today through Domaines Henri Martin, with Vanessa and Jean Triaud in charge.

The 17 hectares are planted at 10,000 vines a hectare, 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot, 3% Petit Verdot and 2% Cabernet Franc, and hold Haute Valeur Environnementale (High Environmental Value, the French state’s environmental certification for farms), level 3. The wine spends 14 to 16 months in oak, half the barrels new. Esprit de Saint-Pierre is the second wine.

At a glance

Appellation

Saint-Julien

Commune

Saint-Julien-Beychevelle

Classification

Quatrième Cru Classé 1855

Owners

The Martin and Triaud family, through Domaines Henri Martin

Direction

Vanessa and Jean Triaud

Vineyard

17 hectares; 10,000 vines a hectare

Grapes

Cabernet Sauvignon 80%, Merlot 15%, Petit Verdot 3%, Cabernet Franc 2%

Farming

Haute Valeur Environnementale, level 3

Cellar

14 to 16 months in oak, half the barrels new

Wines

Château Saint-Pierre; Esprit de Saint-Pierre

Put back together

Van den Bussche in 1922 and 1923; Henri Martin in 1982

Sources: Domaines Henri Martin, Château Saint-Pierre · Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux, Château Saint-Pierre · The Wine Doctor, Saint-Pierre