Château d’Arcins

If there’s one estate that can boast an ancestral past, it’s Château d’Arcins! The vineyard dates back to 1300, when it was created by the Commanderie des Templiers. The Castel family bought the estate in 1971, and it needed to be rebuilt. Everything had to be done, both in the vineyard and in the winery. In the 1980s, the first circular vinification cellar was built. At its centre is the famous blending vat, with a capacity of over two thousand hectolitres, ensuring optimum homogeneity for each vintage bottled. When you approach Château d’Arcins, you enter the world of the great tradition of the Haut-Médoc Crus Bourgeois. The estate covers more than 170 hectares, including 100 hectares of densely planted vines. The vines receive the most attentive care: de-budding, leaf removal and green harvesting ensure that the grapes are concentrated and perfectly ripe. The sandy-gravel terroir also contributes to the distinctive style of Château d’Arcins. The well-balanced grape varieties are Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, and major renovation work has been carried out since 1971. Firstly, the winery, with its revolutionary circular architecture. The entire vat room now benefits from temperature control to optimise each phase of alcoholic and malolactic fermentation. The barrel cellar has also become a superb showcase, now housing more than 1,500 oak barrels devoted to long, careful ageing. Now in his forties, Bruno Teyssier has known only one house: for the past 23 years, he has presided over the destiny of Château d’Arcins. Since the 2007 vintage, Bruno Teyssier has been working with oenologist Antoine Médeville to perfect the vinification and ageing process.