Château Carbonnieux
Grand Cru Classé de Graves
Appellation Pessac-Léognan

Numbers

Surface: 170 Ha of estate, including 92 Ha of vines

Production : Geology : Clay and sandy soil and Garonne gravel of Günz

Grape varieties : 60 % Cabernet Sauvignon, 30 % Merlot, 7 % Cabernet Franc, 3 % Petit Verdot for the red. 65 % Sauvignon Blanc, 35 % Sémillon

Maturing: 10 months for the white and about 18 months for the red

 

Traces of Carbonnieux date back to 1234, the time of the Hundred Years’ War, which makes this property one of the oldest in Pessac-Léognan and explains the military stronghold architecture of the buildings of Château Carbonnieux. For a long time, Château Carbonnieux belonged to the Benedictine monks of Saint-Croix Abbey before the property was confiscated during the French Revolution. Château Carbonnieux went into a slow decline from the second half of the 19th century, when the vineyard was ravaged by phylloxera. Then, the two world wars and the wine overproduction crisis of the 1930s nearly finished off the estate for good. Thus, in the 1950s, the buildings were totally dilapidated and the vineyard had less than half its exploitable surface.

It was in 1956, the year of the great frost, which destroyed the rest of the vines still standing, that the Perrin family bought Château Carbonnieux and gradually worked to restore the property. Anthony Perrin ran Carbonnieux from 1982 to 2008. His children, Eric and Philibert Perrin, have now taken over the reins. Carbonnieux is a Graves Cru Classé for both white and red wines. The red vineyard of Carbonnieux is located on a beautiful, naturally drained gravelly hillside. Within the Pessac-Léognan appellation, this prestigious terroir is remarkable for its morphology and the diversity of its soils. The red wines are seductive from a young age but will deliver all their aromas and taste complexity after several years of ageing. With balanced and silky tannins in harmony with the fruit, the red wines of Château Carbonnieux are of a great classicism.

The white vineyard of Carbonnieux is located on the clay-limestone slopes of the famous Garonne gravel hillside. It is on these rare and sought-after terroirs that the best white wines are produced, whose typicality has been recognised for centuries. When young, the whites of Carbonnieux are charming by their freshness, their purity and their aromatic intensity both fruity and floral. As they age, they develop notes of dried and candied fruit that offer a wide range of gastronomic combinations.

Environmental approach: Sustainable agriculture, HVE level 3 certified (High Environmental Value), member of the first EMS association in Bordeaux, (Environmental Management System) certified ISO 14001

Website: www.carbonnieux.com