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Today is the International Families Day ! The perfect opportunity to talk to you about the families who keep the Saint-Emilion vineyards alive. Despite the misconceptions some people may have about Saint-Emilion’s estates, many of them are family-run, with several generations in succession! Discover 5 families who have been working in the area for nearly 100 years
Château de la Grenière has been a family business for 5 generations.
Vignobles Dubreuil manages 15 hectares of Lussac Saint-Emilion in the northern part of the village. The terroir is varied, with sandy-clay, silty-clay and gravelly soils over a clay base, on a plateau rising to an altitude of 60 metres. We use environmentally-friendly farming methods, and have been HVE3 certified since 2020.
Historical anecdote :
Château de la Grenière is a Carthusian monastery built at the end of the 17th century. The monks of the nearby Faise Abbey regularly obtained their supplies there.
My great-grandfather, Michel, acquired the estate in 1914. I represent the 4th generation of the family to run the estate. The 5th generation will take over with the arrival of my son Audren last summer. In 2022, he will set up as a Young Farmer.
We both work with a team of 4 people: Singrid, Cédric, Christian and Raphaël. As a team, we do all the work in the vineyard, the vinification and the packaging.
I was lucky enough to work alongside my grandfather and my father (unfortunately for too little time) and to benefit from a vineyard that they shaped.
They passed on their know-how to me, while giving me the freedom to innovate and add a personal touch. I intend to do the same with Audren.
This sharing of tasks and knowledge allows us to give a real identity to our wines, to put our own stamp on them.
For me, being able to pass on all this represents the greatest achievement of a career that is closer to the end than the beginning.
Jean-Pierre DUBREUIL
Château Guibeau has been a family estate for 5 generations.
Château Guibeau is located in Puisseguin Saint-Emilion, on one of the highest points in the Bordeaux region. The estate covers 72 hectares in a single block, including 45 hectares of vines planted on clay-limestone soil.
My grandfather, Henri Bourlon, was born in Mexico, where the family managed an 800-hectare hacienda. Passionate about agriculture, he came to Europe to study agricultural engineering. Following a health problem, he found himself convalescing with the priest of Puisseguin. In this village, he was first seduced by the daughter of the owners of Château Guibot La Fourvieille, then by Château Guibeau, a neighbouring property that was for sale at the time. Their marriage brought the 2 properties together. Today, I manage the estate with my husband Eric.
One of our daughters, Justine, is currently doing a Masters at Bordeaux Sciences Agro. To be continued…
Working as a family is a wonderful mission, filled with respect for our ancestors and punctuated by our desire to take this terroir that has been entrusted to us to even greater heights by creating great wines.
Brigitte DESTOUET
Our family has been involved in winegrowing for 4 generations.
Our vineyard is made up of 20 plots ranging in size from 0.10 ha to 1.60 ha. They are located in 3 communes of the Saint-Emilion Jurisdiction. The estate has 3 types of terroir: gravelly soils, sandy soils and silty-clay soils, which allow us to produce different types of wine. The grape varieties are distributed as follows: 88% Merlot, 12% Cabernet Franc.
Château Moulin des Graves originally belonged to a great-uncle, Aurèle DAVID, who owned a cooperage here. Château Hautes Graves d’Arthus belonged to our grandfather, Gaston Musset. Then, in the 1950s, my father Gérard took over the running of the 2 estates. From 1987 onwards, I continued to produce wine. I undertook the restructuring of the winery and the vineyard. Since 2006, new plantings have been carried out following the installation of my son, Lambert, a young oenologist who graduated in 2010.
Working together as a family, as long as there is a good understanding, is the best way to ensure the continuity and sustainability of the vineyard. Assuming that, of course, each child is interested in and motivated by this profession. All the more so as vine-growing is becoming increasingly complicated, mainly because of the climatic risks that have greatly weakened production in recent years.
Jean-Frédéric MUSSET
We are the 5th generation to manage the estate.
Château Carteau is located on the southern slopes of Saint-Emilion, at the foot of Tertre Daugay, on a clay and sand terroir.
Originally a small estate dating back to 1850, it has grown over the generations. Today, it is a 17-hectare estate producing mainly Saint-Emilion Grand Cru.
With my brother, Bruno, and my sister, Anne-Marie, we represent the 5th generation. We joined the family estate very quickly after our studies and officially joined in 1995.
We’re a rare breed in that all the brothers and sisters work on the estate. We manage a total of 22 hectares (if you include Franc Pipeau, the estate belonging to our mother).
We complement each other extremely well and have a shared vision for the future. That doesn’t mean we can’t have passionate discussions from time to time. We each have our own specialities, but we work together during the high points of the year, like the grape harvest for example.
It’s not unusual to come across 3 generations at the Château. Our children live at the pace of the estate. While the older ones have gone their separate ways, the others love talking to their grandparents and listening attentively to their experiences. Some of them have known for a long time that their future lies in Saint-Emilion. Their heads are full of projects!
In a few words, we would say:
Respect, Sharing, Passion, Value, Future
Catherine BERTRAND
Château Beau-Séjour Bécot has been a family property for 3 generations.
The estate now extends over 22 hectares, at the summit of the limestone plateau of the prestigious Saint-Emilion appellation. Beneath the vineyard, 7ha of ancient and mysterious limestone quarries house, in ideal conditions, several tens of thousands of bottles.
In 2018, we began a long and in-depth restructuring of the vineyard with our technical director, Jean DE COURNUAUD, still favouring massal selection. We have also begun construction of a new site. This will countain our new vat room, as well as 2 ageing cellars, a bottle store, all our offices, a laboratory and all the facilities dedicated to wine tourism and welcoming our visitors. The quest for excellence, respect for the terroir and traditions and a thirst for innovation guide the steps of this team, season after season, vintage after vintage.
Since Gallo-Roman times, the Beau-Séjour Bécot site has been devoted to wine-making. The monks of Saint-Martin de Mazerat in the Middle Ages, then the Gères family, Lords of Camarsac, in turn maintained this know-how. In 1722, one of their descendants, Jeanne DE GERES, married into the CARLES DE FIGEAC family the Domaine de Peycoucou – the peak where the cuckoo sings. In 1787, General Jacques DE CARLES renamed the property Beau-Séjour. As he had no descendants, the estate was eventually taken over in 1924 by Dr Jean FAGOUET, who enlarged the vineyard to 10.5 hectares.
My grandfather, Michel, who came from a family of winegrowers established in Saint-Emilion since 1760 and who owned Château La Carte, bought Château Beau-Séjour in 1969. It was then renamed Beau-Séjour Bécot. In 1979, with the acquisition of 4.5 hectares on the Trois Moulins plateau, our family expanded the estate once again. In 1985, my grandfather retired and entrusted the management of the vineyard to my father, Gérard, and my uncle, Dominique. They successively enlarged the estate to its current size of 22 hectares. In 2014, my father retired from the management of the estate, followed by my uncle in 2018. I took over the management, with the support of my husband, Julien, who joined the family business in 2014.
My eldest son, Félix, who is only 9, is in love with the property and loves receiving our visitors and guests. My second son, Lucien, who is 7 years old, is more interested in tractors and the nonsense his grandfather teaches him…!
I've learnt to have a sense of duty and an immense feeling of gratitude and recognition. I think that I chose this profession, above all, out of love for my father and grandfather, who are the most generous and honourable people I have ever met. Learning from them is one of the greatest joys of my life.
Juliette BECOT
