Château Villars

The château

Villars was on the map of the trade before the Gaudries arrived. Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, print 2 holdings there from 1897, in the côtes of Saillans: the Domaine de Villars of J. Pineau and A Villars of Trocard jeune, at 15 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels). At the start of the 20th century Octave Trocard owned a fine vineyard there, which won a gold medal at the Antwerp exhibition of 1907, and in 1922 the guide listed A Villars under the heirs of O. Trocard, at 45 tonneaux. In 1934 Jean-Jacques Gaudrie married Thérèse and set about restoring the estate. Their son Jean-Claude Gaudrie took over in 1968 and from 1978 aged the wines only in barrel, a choice the family has held to ever since, and Thierry Gaudrie, an enologist, has made the wines since 1991. The Gaudries count 7 generations of winegrowers at Fronsac.

The estate has 30 hectares of vines on clay and limestone above the valley of the Isle, with 5 of meadow and 5 of woods. Château Villars comes from 20 of those hectares, vines 38 years old on average, picked by hand; Merlot leads, with Cabernet Franc, in proportions that change with the vintage. The grapes ferment the traditional way, at 28°C, with 26 to 28 days of maceration and a pumping over every day, and the wine ages entirely in barrel, one third of the barrels renewed each year. The family also makes Château Moulin Haut Villars, from 9.65 hectares, Château Malvat, the second wine, a rosé since 1983 and Charme de Villars.

At a glance

Appellation

Fronsac

Commune

Saillans

Classification

No classification

Owners

The Gaudrie family; Thierry Gaudrie, enologist, making the wines since 1991

Vineyard

30 hectares, 20 for Château Villars; vines 38 years old on average

Soil

Clay and limestone Terroir of Fronsac →

Grapes

Merlot and Cabernet Franc

Cellar

Barrels only, since 1978; one third renewed each year

Wines

Château Villars; Château Moulin Haut Villars; Château Malvat; a rosé; Charme de Villars

In history

A Villars under Trocard jeune from 1897; a gold medal at Antwerp in 1907; 45 tonneaux in 1922