Château Yon-Figeac

The estate

Yon-Figeac dates from the beginning of the 19th century, and its house of limestone, in the plain style of the region, was built in 1886; 2 sculptures by Cécile Pitois frame the entrance. The estate entered the directories in 1881. In 1883 Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, listed it in their English edition under Saint-Albin-Bonneval at 15 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels), among the growths that fetched prices between the first and the second growths. By 1897 Féret, in his survey of the Libourne vineyards, gave it 10 hectares at the foot of the slopes, 3 kilometers from the town on the road from Libourne, in a sandy, ferruginous soil kept fresh by a subsoil of alios, making 40 to 45 tonneaux of a generous, warm, soft wine that came close to Pomerol in its delicacy. In 1908 the vineyard was still entirely old ungrafted French vines, and in 1922, under Collet-Pagniez, it made 75 tonneaux.

Alain Château, an engineer and former industrialist who had first worked estates in Anjou, bought Yon-Figeac in 2005 and restored it, with the late Denis Dubourdieu, professor at the faculty of oenology of Bordeaux, as his adviser from that year; Christophe Ollivier is the consulting oenologist today. The estate has been a Grand Cru Classé since the first list of 1955. The list of 2006, which the courts annulled, struck it off, the revision of 2012 put it back, and the list approved in September 2022 confirmed it.

The 24 hectares lie in the northwest of the appellation on sandy clay over iron pan, planted 80% Merlot, 13% Cabernet Franc and 7% Petit Verdot at 6,200 vines to the hectare, with vines 32 years old on average. The estate has farmed by reasoned treatments since 2011, has held ISO 14001 since 2013 and Haute Valeur Environnementale (High Environmental Value, the French state’s environmental certification for farms) at level 3 from the 2016 vintage. Picking is by hand, from September into early October, and the parcels are vinified apart in temperature-controlled stainless steel for 25 to 30 days. The grand vin (the estate’s first wine) ages 12 months, 40% in new barrels and 60% in barrels of 1 and 2 wines, from yields of 38 hectoliters a hectare; Les Roches de Yon, the second wine, ages in foudres and used barrels.

At a glance

Appellation

Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

Commune

Saint-Émilion, in the northwest of the appellation

Classification

Grand Cru Classé, 1955, 2012 and 2022; struck off in 2006, a list the courts annulled

Owner

Alain Château, since 2005

Consultant

Christophe Ollivier; Denis Dubourdieu advised from 2005

Vineyard

24 hectares; 6,200 vines to the hectare; vines 32 years old on average

Ground

Sandy clay over iron pan

Grapes

Merlot 80%, Cabernet Franc 13%, Petit Verdot 7%

Farming

Reasoned treatments since 2011; ISO 14001 since 2013; Haute Valeur Environnementale, level 3, from the 2016 vintage

Cellar

Picked by hand; parcels vinified apart in stainless steel, 25 to 30 days; 12 months in barrel, 40% new

Wines

Château Yon-Figeac; Les Roches de Yon

In history

15 tonneaux in 1883; 10 hectares and 40 to 45 tonneaux in 1897; 75 tonneaux in 1922

Sources: Château Yon-Figeac, the château · Château Yon-Figeac, the owner · Château Yon-Figeac, the wines · Association des Grands Crus Classés de Saint-Émilion, Château Yon-Figeac · Institut National de l’Origine et de la Qualité, the Saint-Émilion classification of 2022