Château Filhot

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Château Filhot manor house, built in 1845

The Château Filhot winery is located in the municipality of Sauternes , part of the Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée Sauternes in the Bordeaux wine-growing region . In the Bordeaux wine classification of 1855 it was classified as "Deuxième Cru Classé". The estate has 350 hectares of land, of which 62 hectares are planted with vines. The vineyards are located northwest of the manor building. Due to a deep crisis, the winery was only very rarely able to confirm the high quality classification in the 20th century.

Wine

Label of the Château Filhot, vintage 2008

The Sémillon grape variety accounts for the largest share with a planted area of ​​60 percent. In addition, 36 percent Sauvignon Blanc is added. The remaining 4 percent is accounted for by the Muscadelle grape variety . The average age of the vines is a high 35 years; the annual yield is 15 to 18 hl / ha. The harvest is carried out by hand in three to six harvest stages in order to select the noble rotten berries. From Grand Vin nearly 60,000 bottles are filled annually. The wine ferments for 12 to 20 days in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks. The individual wine batches are matured separately in wooden barrels for ten months and are then filtered. The blending takes place four months later . The further expansion takes place for twelve months in barriques , one third of which is renewed annually. In addition to the Grand Vin, there has also been a largely unknown second wine , Château Pineau de Rey , since the 1970s . Wines that do not meet the quality requirements of a grand vin or a second wine are sold anonymously as barrel goods. A dry white wine called Château Pineau du Rey Sec is also produced in small quantities .

history

In 1709, Romain de Filhot (1641-1710), member of the Parliament of Bordeaux and later founder of the Sauternes appellation , acquired some vineyards in the south-facing district of vins de Langon . It is believed that the vineyards were created in the years 1630-1650. The family owned the winery for almost a century. The management of the estate passed from Romain de Filhot to his son Jean-Jacques and later to his grandson Jean François-Xavier. Both were also members of parliament. Gabriel Barthélémy Romain de Filhot (February 25, 1746 - July 11, 1794) managed the estate in the fourth generation. The President of the Parliament led the estate to its prime. In a letter from May 1787, Thomas Jefferson certified the wines as first-class Sauternes, which achieved the same prices as Château d'Yquem .

In 1788, Gabriel Barthélémy Romain de Filhot acquired the Château Coutet . Only six years later he was executed as part of the French Revolution . His only daughter Marie Geneviève Françoise Joséphine de Filhot was still very young at the time. When she married Antoine Marie Henry Amédée de Lur-Saluces in 1807, Château d'Yquem, Château Coutet, Château de Malle , Château de Fargues and Château Filhot belonged to the same family.

The son Romain Bertrand de Lur-Saluces expanded Château Filhot in 1840 by purchasing the Pineau de Rey winery. Five years later, he had the manor building, which still exists today, built on the model of the Petit Trianon summer residence. The park was designed by Louis-Bernard Fischer.

1970 vintage label

In 1855 the winery was classified as "Deuxième Cru Classé" and was subsequently marketed as Château Sauternes. The renaming of the winery also falls in a period of decline. The reintroduction of the name Filhot in 1901 didn't help either. Of the former 120 hectares of vineyards, only just under 20 hectares remained in the 1930s. In 1935, the owner of the estate, Marquis Bertrand de Lur-Saluces, was forced to sell the winery to his sister Thérèse-Marie and her husband, Comte Étienne Durieu de Lacarelle. Her grandson Henri de Vaucelles has been running the estate since 1974.

Since then, the de Vaucelles family has tried to reposition the winery as a quality winery through investments. In 1995 the old plastic fermentation tanks were replaced by temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks. For several years now, the wines have been aged in barrique barrels after fermentation.

literature

Web links

Commons : Château Filhot  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson, Gutenberg Project

    “Of white wines, those made in the canton of Grave, are most esteemed at Bordeaux. The best crops are, 1. Pontac, which formerly belonged to M. de Pontac, but now to M. de Lamont. He makes forty tons, which sell at four hundred livres, new. 2. St. Brise, belonging to M. de Pontac; thirty tons, at three hundred and fifty livres. 3. De Carbonius, belonging to the Benedictine monks, who make fifty tons, and never selling till three or four years old, get eight hundred livres the ton. Those made in the three parishes next above Grave, and more esteemed at Paris, are, 1. Sauterne. The best crop belongs to M. Diquem at Bordeaux, or to M. de Salus, his son-in-law; one hundred and fifty tons, at three hundred livres, new, and six hundred livres, old. The next best crop is M. de Fillotte's, one hundred tons, sold at the same price. 2. Prignac. The best is the President du Roy's, at Bordeaux. He makes one hundred and seventy-five tons, which sell at three hundred livres, new, and six hundred livres, old. Those of 1784, for their extraordinary quality, sell at eight hundred livres. 3. Barsac. The best belongs to the President Pichard, who makes one hundred and fifty tons, at two hundred and eighteen livres, new, and six hundred livres, old. Sauterne is the pleasantest; next Prignac, and lastly Barsac: but Barsac is the strongest; next Prignac, and lastly Sauterne; and all stronger than Grave. "

    - Thomas Jefferson