Chateau Saint-Georges Saint-Georges-Saint-Emilion 2020 375ml

There has been a estate here since Gallo-Roman times, once covering a thousand arpents, around 263 hectares, which is roughly the whole parish of Saint-Georges. Henri IV sold the château and its land to Jean Barbot in October 1602 for 1,500 pounds, a purchase that came with the title of Baron. The last Baron of Saint-Georges commissioned Victor Louis, the neo-classical architect behind the Grand Théâtre in Bordeaux, to rebuild the feudal château in 1772, keeping its four corner towers.

The Revolution spared the building but phylloxera destroyed the vines, and the estate passed through several hands until Pétrus Desbois bought it in November 1891 as a summer residence and set about grafting the French vines onto American rootstock. It has been a private family home and vineyard ever since. His son, also Pétrus, took over in 1945 and it was under him that the wine made its name; Georges Desbois presides today.

Forty-five hectares are farmed as a single parcel on the main south-facing slope of Saint-Georges-Saint-Émilion, planted at 5,500 vines to the hectare and, like all Bordeaux, never irrigated. Fruit is rigorously sorted before de-stemming, cold-soaked at 10 to 12°C and fermented in stainless steel at relatively low temperature, then aged twelve to fourteen months in barrel with around 30 per cent new oak. The wines are balanced and elegant, and known for ageing well. Production is about 27,500 dozen.