Château Suduiraut

The château

The name is a marriage, that of Léonard de Suduiraut and Nicole d’Allard in 1580. The house was burned in the civil wars of the 17th century and rebuilt, and its formal park is attributed to André Le Nôtre. Long before 1855 the wine stood at the top of its commune. The 1832 edition of the Topographie de tous les vignobles connus, the survey of the vineyards of the world by the Paris wine merchant André Jullien, makes the château de Suduiraut the first growth of Preignac at 120 to 130 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels) a year, and William Franck, whose Traité sur les vins du Médoc first appeared in 1824, prints in 1845 an 18th century broker’s note calling Suduiraud, under Mme Du Roi, the first of them all, finer than any other and dearer by 5 écus.

The Guillot brothers ran the estate through the second half of the 19th century and took prizes at the Paris exhibitions of 1867, 1878, 1879 and 1889. Léopold-François Fonquernie bought it in 1940 and his family kept it for 50 years, until AXA Millésimes bought it in 1992. Christian Seely has been managing director of AXA Millésimes since 2001, and Pierre Montégut technical director here since 2004.

The vineyard is 91 hectares of gravel and sandy clay beside Yquem, planted 80% Sémillon, 15% Sauvignon Blanc and 5% Sauvignon Gris, at 7,000 vines a hectare, vines 35 years old on average. It is picked by hand in as many passes as the year demands. Castelnau de Suduiraut, the second wine, comes from the parts of the harvest that show themselves earlier. There has been a dry white since 2004, and a range of them since 2022. In hard years the house simply goes without its first wine: none was released in 1987, 1991, 1992, 1993 or 2012, among others.

At a glance

Appellation

Sauternes

Commune

Preignac

Classification

Premier Cru Classé 1855; Michelin Guide, 1 grape (2026)

Owner

AXA Millésimes, since 1992; the Fonquernie family from 1940

Direction

Christian Seely, managing director of AXA Millésimes, since 2001; Pierre Montégut, technical director, since 2004

Vineyard

91 hectares; 7,000 vines a hectare; vines 35 years old on average

Soil

Gravel and sandy clay Terroir of Sauternes →

Grapes

Sémillon 80%, Sauvignon Blanc 15%, Sauvignon Gris 5%

Harvest

By hand, in successive passes

Wines

Château Suduiraut; Castelnau de Suduiraut; dry whites since 2004

Years with no first wine

1987, 1991, 1992, 1993 and 2012, among others

The park

Laid out in the manner of André Le Nôtre

In history

First growth of Preignac at 120 to 130 tonneaux in 1832