Château Victoria

The château

The name comes with a story the château still tells. In June 1875, 2 Englishmen walking in the Médoc came upon the ruins of the Château de Coutelin among the vines, picnicked there, drank many toasts to their queen and made a sketch of the château, which they named Victoria; the pediment has carried the arms of England ever since. The wine made its way quickly. Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, listed it among the crus bourgeois (a Médoc classification) of Vertheuil from 1883, under Saint-Léon-Boyer-Fonfrède, at 25 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels), with a silver medal at an international exhibition in 1879 and medals at Paris in 1878 and Amsterdam in 1883. In 1886, under Dr Baudrimont, it had 28 hectares of vines on a limestone subsoil, making very full-bodied wines. By 1899, in the hands of Sicher, a notary, the English edition of the guide described an elegant château with an avenue of palm trees, a park, ornamental water and a fish pond; in 1922 it belonged to André Faugeras, at 40 tonneaux.

The estate of today took shape under Ernest Barbe, who bought Château Le Bourdieu Vertheuil in 1943, then Château Victoria and the vineyard of Château Picourneau. The Richard family, in wine since 1892, bought all 3 in 1989 and runs them with 1 team.

Victoria’s 20 hectares lie on fine gravel and a very free-draining limestone plateau, at 8,200 vines a hectare, 35 years old on average, and have been farmed to Haute Valeur Environnementale (High Environmental Value, the French state’s environmental certification for farms) at level 3 since 2019. The Victoria and Picourneau parcels hold the older Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, dotted with Cabernet Franc. The grapes are picked by machine and vinified parcel by parcel with gentle extraction, and the wine spends 12 months in oak barrels; Éric Boissenot has advised on the making and aging since 2014. Production is about 60,000 bottles, and Victoria is a Cru Bourgeois in the classifications of 2020 and 2025.

At a glance

Appellation

Haut-Médoc

Commune

Vertheuil

Classification

Cru Bourgeois, 2020 and 2025

Owners

The Richard family, Domaines Richard, since 1989

Enologist

Éric Boissenot, since 2014

Vineyard

20 hectares; 8,200 vines a hectare, 35 years old on average

Soil

Fine gravel; a limestone plateau Terroir of Haut-Médoc →

Grapes

Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, with some Cabernet Franc

Farming

Haute Valeur Environnementale, level 3, since 2019

Cellar

Picked by machine; parcel by parcel; 12 months in oak barrels

Production

About 60,000 bottles

Wines

Château Victoria; Victoria II; La Croix de Victoria

The house

Also Château Le Bourdieu Vertheuil and Château Picourneau, Haut-Médoc

In history

A cru bourgeois from 1883; medals at Paris in 1878 and Amsterdam in 1883; André Faugeras in 1922