Château Barreyres

The Château Barreyres estate is dominated by a majestic 19th-century building that has been completely restored. One of the jewels in the crown of the Médoc’s heritage, the estate boasts superb parkland and a stunning lake. Historically, this estate belonged to Baron du Périer de Larsan, who farmed fifty hectares. The Castel family acquired the estate in 1971 and undertook a vast programme of consolidation and modernisation. Nestling between the commune of Arcins and the Gironde, the vineyard benefits from an ideal location, on beautiful terroirs with gentle slopes towards the estuary. Legend has it that in order to produce great wines, the vines on the peninsula must be able to see the river… The estate covers 240 hectares of vines, woodland and parkland. Close to his land, Pierre Castel is convinced that the essence of a great wine lies in quality grapes. All the work in the vineyard is geared towards this objective: very high planting density, short pruning, disbudding, green harvesting. The morphology of the vineyard and the composition of the terroir, based on clay and sandy-gravel hilltops, give this Haut-Médoc its very own feminine character. Château Barreyres boasts a beautiful cellar full of oak vats, used mainly for ageing and final blending of the wines. This is complemented by a recently built winery equipped with temperature-controlled stainless steel vats. But the heart of the building is also home to the magnificent barrel cellars, adorned with statues and stained-glass windows from Mirande. This sumptuous setting is home to the 1,600 oak barrels that patiently mature the wines of Château Barreyres over many months. Now in his forties, Bruno Teyssier has known only one house: for the past 23 years, he has presided over the destiny of Château Barreyres. He says he is “delighted to make wines that give pleasure to wine-lovers”. A man of bold character, his ambition is to remain faithful to the soul of Château Barreyres, but he also dreams of pushing the finesse of his selections even further during the blending process to achieve ever greater elegance. Since the 2007 vintage, Bruno Teyssier has been working with oenologist Antoine Medeville to perfect the vinification and ageing stages.