Château Tronquoy

The château

Tronquoy takes its name from its first owner, François Tronquoy, and from La Lande, the heath on which its historic vineyard is planted; the estate is now called Château Tronquoy, while the wines still go out as Château Tronquoy-Lalande. It was formed in the 18th century around a château built for the Tronquoy family to a design by Victor Louis, the architect of the Grand Théâtre in Bordeaux. William Franck, whose Traité sur les vins du Médoc first appeared in 1824, lists Tronquoy that year at 80 to 100 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels), and his edition of 1853 counts Tronquoy-Lalande among the bons bourgeois of the commune whose wines were likened to those of Pauillac. In 1859 Pierre Célérier aîné bought the estate: some 70 hectares, 35 of them vines on gravel rises planted almost wholly with Cabernet Sauvignon. Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, call it in 1898 a grand favori among the premiers bourgeois supérieurs, its wines much valued in England and Germany; it made 160 tonneaux that year, and in 1922 Château Lalande, a cru bourgeois supérieur, belonged to Fernand Célérier.

After several more owners, Jean Texier and his wife Arlette Castéja-Texier bought it in 1968. Martin and Olivier Bouygues bought it in 2006 and began a modernization that culminated in 2010 with a large barrel hall and a new vat house, with a vertical press and 22 temperature-controlled stainless steel vats. Yves Delsol, there for more than 30 years, manages the estate under the supervision of Pierre Graffeuille.

The 30 hectares lie 23 meters above sea level on a layer of gravel and clay 8 meters deep, planted 52% Merlot, 39% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Petit Verdot and 3% Cabernet Franc at 9,000 vines a hectare, worked by plow and certified organic since 2024. After blending, the red spends 12 months in French oak barrels, 30% new. Since 2011, 1 hectare at the top of the plateau has gone to a white Bordeaux of Sémillon and Sauvignon Gris, picked by hand, fermented in barrel and aged 6 to 9 months on its lees.

At a glance

Appellation

Saint-Estèphe

Commune

Saint-Estèphe

Classification

No classification

Owners

Martin and Olivier Bouygues, since 2006

Direction

Yves Delsol, estate manager; Pierre Graffeuille, supervision

Vineyard

30 hectares; 9,000 vines a hectare

Soil

Gravel and clay, 8 meters deep Terroir of Saint-Estèphe →

Grapes

Merlot 52%, Cabernet Sauvignon 39%, Petit Verdot 6%, Cabernet Franc 3%

Farming

Plowed; certified organic since 2024

Cellar

Vertical press; 22 stainless steel vats; 12 months in French oak, 30% new

Wines

Château Tronquoy-Lalande, Saint-Estèphe; Château Tronquoy-Lalande, Bordeaux Blanc

The house

A château designed by Victor Louis in the 18th century

In history

The Célérier family from 1859; 160 tonneaux in 1898