Chateau Peyrabon

Peyrabon is first mentioned in 1766, when Chateau Peyrabon appeared on the map of the Medoc drawn up by the French king’s royal cartographer, Pierre de Belleyme. At the time it was classified as a wine-growing estate in the village of Saint-Sauveur den Medoc.

The estate has changed hands many times over the centuries, though one owner above all left an indelible mark on the estate: Arnaud Armand Roux, who took ownership in 1865. He raised the profile of the property considerably, by way of a heterodox marketing method—he only made the wines available to family and friends. The labels proudly announced that the wines were ‘never sold commercially’! At the end of the 19th century Queen Victoria attended a concert at the chateau given in her honour, of which Monsieur Roux was host.

Other notable proprietors include the Counts of Courcelles, who did much to put the property on a firm footing and consolidate its reputation in the early part of the 20th century, and later the Babeau family, who owned the chateau from 1958 to 1998. Over those four decades, they:

• Replanted the entirety of the vineyard, which was devastated by the great frost of 1956.
• Expanded the estate by way of purchasing the neighbouring Chataeu Liversan. The additional 15 hectares of vineyard on clay-limestone soil provided perfect plots for growing Merlot grapes, complimenting Peyrabon’s own terroir of gently-rolling, gravelly soil that is ideal for Cabernet Sauvignon.

In 1998 Peyrabon was snapped up by Bordeaux-based wine merchant, Millesima – Europe’s leading direct-mail retailer of fine wine.

As would be expected, quality standards are exacting. Millesima, having invested just under 2,000,000 Euros into the property since taking control, has also doubled the number of temperature controlled fermentation vats; these allow rigorous individual plot management. In addition, they have constructed of a partly underground, temperature-controlled barrel cellar, which can house up to 1,500 barriques.