2023 Chateau de Fieuzal Pessac-Leognan En Primeur

Its Origins

Chateau de Fieuzal like many Bordeaux estates is named in honor of one of the earlier owners who managed the estate at the start of the nineteenth century. After that, the Bordeaux wine property was owned by the Griffon family. The Griffon’s, who were lucky to have connections to Pope Léon XIII in Bordeaux, were able to fill the Vatican ’s cellars with their wines from the Pessac Leognan area. de Fieuzal was purchased by the well-known Ricard family. The Ricard’s owned multiple Bordeaux wine estates including Domaine de Chevalier and Malartic Lagraviere . Today, Chateau de Fieuzal is owned by Lochlann Quinn, the chairman of Allied Irish Banks who purchased Chateau de Fieuzal in 2001 from interestingly another bank. The 39 hectare vineyard of Chateau de Fieuzal has a terroir of gravel, sand, clay and small white stones in the soils. The Pessac Leognan vineyard is planted to red and white grape varietals. For the red wines, the vineyard is planted to 60% Cabernet Sauvignon , 33% Merlot , 4.5% Cabernet Franc and 2.5% Petit Verdot . On average, the vines are 35 years of age. But they have old vines as well. Their oldest vines are Petit Verdot, which were planted all the way back in 1908. Known for its whites, the vines are planted to an even mix of 50% Sauvignon Blanc and 50% Semillon . The vine density is on average, 8,300 vines per hectare.