Once owned by Carmelite monks, this estate is situated very close to the champion of sweet wines, d’Yquem. The origins of the name are sketchy, though it could be a compound of Ruisseau, the name of a stream which runs between Rieussec and d’Yquem, and sec (‘dry), because the stream is known to dry up during the summer months.
During the Revolution the estate was seized as a national asset, and subsequently sold to a gentleman called Mareilhac, who in turn sold it onto Monsieur Maille in 1846.
Following Maille the property passed onto Charles Crepin, who then willed the property to his son-in-law Paul Defolie in 1892. Despite making significant investments in the property, his tenure was sadly short-lived. Rieussec then ran the gamut of a series of owners and, as is always the case in this situation, it suffered from under-investment and began to fall into a state of ill repair.
This sorry state of affairs persisted until 1957, during which the various proprietors had little to no positive impact on the estate, which had suffered immensely from the effects of phylloxera and oidium. This was compounded by the Great War and widespread economic depression. The fact that the rich, sweet wine of Sauternes had fallen out of fashion simply rubbed salt in the wounds.
It comes as no surprise, then, that when the supermarket mogul Albert Vuillier arrived in Bordeaux to buy a property in Sauternes he was positively spoilt for choice. He settled on Rieussec – one of the few estates with buildings that remained habitable. At first he operated as an absentee landlord, but this all changed in 1974 when Vuillier moved into the chateau and took the reigns.
He wanted to invest heavily and in particular wanted to replant some of the rundown vineyards, but soon found that such investment was not feasible. The situation worsened after a succession of lacklustre vintages, coupled with low overall demand for the vines. In short, Vuillier needed help. It came in 1984, in the form of the Rothschilds.
The Rothschilds in question are those of Lafite-Rothschild. They were at the time already running Duhart-Milon, and investment in Rieussec must have struck them as prudent, as soon they were the majority shareholder. For a time Vuillier stayed on, but in 1985 he was unceremoniously replaced as manager of the estate by Charles Chevalier.
Under the supervision of the Rothschild family there has been steady investment and Rieussec has slowly recovered from decades of neglect. Today it is easily one of the greatest producers of Sauternes, and some might say it is second only to the peerless d’Yquem.
The vineyards are the second highest in Sauternes after those of the adjacent d’Yquem. They span across 90 hectares, with the ground beneath comprising of gravel and lime. The vines average at 25 years of age and are planted at 90% Semillon, with the remaining 10 per cent consisting of 7% Sauvignon Blanc and 3% Muscadelle.
Yields are relatively high for Sauternes at 22 hl/ha, though there is stringent selection. The winery is where the Rothschild investment comes to the fore. The installation of pneumatic presses helps careful handling of the fruit.
Vinification takes place in the barrel, with a small-batch approach so that each can be individually managed and assessed. There is strict selection and only the best vines make up the grand vin, Chateau Rieussec, which is then subjected to 26 months in oak barrels. If the quality is deemed insufficient, no grand vin is produced (as happened in 1993).
Rejected wine goes into the second wine, Carmes de Rieussec, named after the Carmes de Langon monks that once owned the estate. There are also offerings under the Clos Labere and Chateau de Cosse labels, as well as a dry white made from non-botrytised grapes, made up of equal proportions of Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc, called R de Rieussec. The estate produces 10,000 cases of wine on average.
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