Château Verdignan

The estate

The date 1720 is cut into the stone lintel of the oldest door of Verdignan’s fermenting room. The old books treated it as the leading growth of Saint-Seurin-de-Cadourne. William Franck, whose Traité sur les vins du Médoc first appeared in 1824, lists it in 1845 under Messieurs de Parouty, at 120 to 150 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels), and in 1855 Armand d’Armailhacq, a Pauillac grower whose De la culture des vignes, la vinification et les vins dans le Médoc came out that year, names M. de Parouty’s as the first cru of the commune. The estate stayed in the same family from the late 18th century until 1934. Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, name Léon de Loth, M. de Parouty’s great-nephew, in 1922, with a domain of 50 hectares, its vines in 1 piece on the eastern slope of the hill, and 50 hectares of meadows down to the river, and 160 to 200 tonneaux a year. A fire in the 1940s took 1 third of the château’s floor area, on the south side.

Jean Miailhe, the last of a family of Bordeaux wine brokers going back to 1793, left brokerage in 1970 and took over Verdignan, next door to Château Coufran, in 2 stages, in 1972 and 1975. His children have run it since the 1980s, Eric Miailhe on production and sales, Marie-Cécile Vicaire on administration.

The estate covers 60 hectares. The château wine comes from 40 of them, gravel and clay around the château, mainly Cabernet Sauvignon with Merlot and a little Cabernet Franc, from vines about 45 years old; 20 hectares of young vines on clay and limestone are kept out of it for now. The vineyard is certified AREA, the environmental standard of the Aquitaine region, and Haute Valeur Environnementale (High Environmental Value, the French state’s environmental certification for farms) at level 3. The Merlot is picked first, the wine is made in temperature-controlled stainless steel and matured 12 months in French oak, with 25% of the barrels replaced each year, and Éric Boissenot consults. The house is patient: it keeps its vintages back and releases them when they are ready to drink. The range also includes N°2 de Verdignan and Château Plantey de la Croix.

At a glance

Appellation

Haut-Médoc

Commune

Saint-Seurin-de-Cadourne

Classification

No classification

Owners

The Miailhe family, since 1972 and 1975

Direction

Eric Miailhe, production and sales; Marie-Cécile Vicaire, administration

Consultant

Éric Boissenot

Vineyard

60 hectares: 40 of gravel and clay for the château wine, 20 of young vines on clay and limestone

Grapes

Mainly Cabernet Sauvignon, with Merlot and a little Cabernet Franc

Farming

AREA; Haute Valeur Environnementale, level 3

Cellar

Stainless steel; 12 months in French oak, 25% of the barrels new each year

Wines

Château Verdignan; N°2 de Verdignan; Château Plantey de la Croix

The house

Also Château Coufran, next door; wines held back until ready to drink

In history

The first cru of Saint-Seurin-de-Cadourne in 1855; 160 to 200 tonneaux in 1922

Sources: Château Verdignan · Château Verdignan, the heritage · Château Verdignan, the grand vin · Château Verdignan, from the vine to the bottle · Château Verdignan, a commercial strategy