In times past, present-day Château Seguin was a traditional stopover for pilgrims going to Santiago de Compostela. Pilgrims still wend their way past the estate today, under the benevolent eye of the Seguin Cross overlooking the vines. In the early 20th century, this ancient estate belonged to the Pascal family. It produced 3,500 cases of wine at the time, which was already much-appreciated. Féret (“Bordeaux and its Wines”) describes Seguin as follows: “the highest point in the village with magnificent gravel rises producing generous, very refined wines reminiscent Haut Brion”.Nestled in the Eau Bourde valley in the northern part of the Pessac-Léognan appellation, the vineyard is split into two sections, each slightly over 15 hectares in size: Seguin and Petit Bordeaux.
Having fallen into obscurity during the 1950s, Seguin is an excellent example of a chateau that underwent a renaissance. Since 1987, the present owners, the Darriet family, have worked hard to renovate the vineyard and their winemaking facilities in a modern, rational way. Thanks to support from a group of three enthusiastic wine lovers originally from the LOTICIS group starting in 1999, a number of investments were made to give Château Séguin all the care and attention of a grand cru: sustainable viticultural practices paying careful attention to the environment, hand picking into small crates, double sorting in the cellar, temperature-controlled fermentation, and ageing in stave oak barrels (50% of which are new every year), accompanied by regular racking.
Château Seguin’s excellent terroir in the heart of Pessac-Léognan produces a powerful, tannic, well-balanced, and elegant wine.
The new appellation’s rapid rise is due to the fact that it encompasses all the estates that were designated Crus Classés de Graves in 1959, and it is entitled to two names: both Graves and Pessac-Léognan. The Pessac-Léognan appellation covers 1,300 hectares in the villages of Cadaujac, Canéjan, Gradignan, Léognan, Martillac, Mérignac, Pessac, Saint-Médard d’Eyrans, Talence and Villenave d’Ornon. Three quarters of the wines are red and one quarter white.
Cabernet Sauvignon comprises just under 60% of the area under vine. What makes Pessac-Léognan’s terroir so special is that it dates back to the late Tertiary/early Quaternary periods, when the former mouth of the Garonne river left behind river stones and gravel of various kinds mixed with clay, sand, hardpan, limestone and shell marl. These form the soil of the famous Graves de Bordeaux.
The word graves (meaning ‘gravel’) takes on special meaning here because the unique terroir also includes white, red, pink, and ochre-coloured quartzite and quartz, as well as jasper, flint, lydite, and more. The variable thickness of the soil (often from 20 cm to 3 metres, but over 7 metres at Seguin) and non-uniform occurrence of gravel in the subsoil offers a wealth of possibilities and options that account for the diversity, character, and nuances of Pessac-Léognan’s fine wines..
The vines still need nourishment. The gravel deposits in Pessac-Léognan form the appellation’s hilly topography, with rises that provide excellent natural drainage. This drainage is enhanced by a well-developed hydrographic network of small waterways, tributaries of the Garonne (the Peugue, Eau Bourde, Eau Blanche, Breyra, and Saucats). The vines are never drowned, and their roots sink deep into the subsoil for the water they need.
River stones, pebbles, and gravel on the surface soak up heat during the daytime and slowly release it at night. This contributes to slow, even ripening.
In addition, influenced by the nearby ocean and benefiting from the protection of the large Landes pine forest to the west, Pessac-Léognan has a mild, temperate microclimate with regular rainfall. This microclimate is conducive to producing exceptional wines.
In order to obtain the maximum of this exceptionnal potential, the estate own a very passionate team that walk around the vineyard each day to listen the nature, and then to make the necessary work at the perfect moment.
Seguin has ultra-modern facilities and has been able to adapt to the best current techniques in order to advance its wines from year to year for more than ten years. The maceration is preferment cold (8 ° C) and the alcoholic fermentation is done in stainless steel tanks. Finally, the final vatting is done hot (28 ° C) over a period of 10 to 15 days, and is followed by a malo-lactic fermentation in barrels and stainless steel tanks.
The great know-how of these different stages makes possible to extract the best result from an exceptional base.
Barrel aging is traditional, and every year, a particular attention is gave to the choice of the barrels, the percentage ofnew barrels, as well as the aging period which must beperfectly adapted to the vintage.