Château Rieussec
The Château Rieussec winery is located in the commune of Fargues , part of the Sauternes appellation in the Bordeaux wine-growing region . In the Bordeaux wine classification of 1855 , it was classified as "Premier Cru Classé". The winery is right next to Château d'Yquem , the vineyards are only separated by a trickle that often dries out in summer (sec - dry). The 110 hectare estate has 68 hectares of vineyards. The area is on the highest areas of the municipality of Fargues.
In the 18th century, the Domaine de Rieussec was owned by the monks of the Carmes de Langon monastery and the manor buildings also served as monastery buildings. The ecclesiastical properties were confiscated during the French Revolution around 1790 and sold to Mr Marheilhac, the owner of the Château La Louvière in Léognan ( Graves ) at the time. At the time of the classification in 1855 , however, the estate belonged to a Mr Mayne or Maillet (?) And from then on continued to change hands frequently: Charles Crepin (around 1870), Paul Defolie (1892), Mr Bannil (1907), the Gasqueton family ( Owner of the Château Calon-Ségur in Saint-Estèphe ), P. F. Berry during the World War, Mr. Balaresque (1957) and finally Albert Vuillier (1971), who again greatly improved the quality of the winery.
In 1984 the Domaines Barons de Rothschild (see also Château Lafite-Rothschild and Château Duhart-Milon-Rothschild ) acquired the winery.
80% of the grape varieties are Sémillon , 18% Sauvignon Blanc and 2% Muscadelle . The harvest is carried out by hand in six to eight harvest stages in order to select the noble rotten berries. The wine matures in new barriques for 18–24 months . Around 40,000 bottles are marketed annually.
No main wine was bottled in the 1993 and 2012 vintages because they did not meet the quality standards of the estate.
The second wine is called Carmes de Rieussec . A (dry) white wine called R is also produced, which is marketed under the Graves appellation. If the starting conditions are particularly good, the super wine “Creme de Tete” is released.
literature
- Charles Cocks, Edouard Féret, Bruno Boidron: Bordeaux et ses vins . 18th edition. Èdition Féret et Fils, Bordeaux 2007, ISBN 978-2-35156-013-6 .
- Horst Dippel : The wine lexicon . 3. Edition. Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1999, ISBN 3-596-13826-4 .
- Robert Parker : Parker's Wine Guide (= Collection Rolf Heyne ). Heyne, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-453-16305-2 .