Château Hourtou

Situated to the north-west of the commune of Tauriac, Château Hourtou commands a vast estate of forty-four hectares. A former noble house dating back to the 15th century, Château Hourtou has long been a recognised winegrowing estate, having been classified as a Cru Bourgeois in 1868 by Edouard Féret in the second edition of Bordeaux et ses Vins. The vineyards of Château Hourtou are spread over a single block of beautiful clay-limestone soil. Château Hourtou is clearly a well-born vineyard, perched at the top of a hillside that slopes gently down to the bottom of a valley naturally drained by the Marguerite stream. Taken in hand by the Castel family and under the direction of Michel Sauvanet from Château du Bousquet, the estate has been given a new lease of life. As a connoisseur, Mr Sauvanet immediately identified the strong potential of this estate and spared no effort to bring out the best in the Merlot, Cabernet-sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Malbec grapes, all of which are proudly 40 years old. The policy of improving quality is also reflected in the winery. Modernised, it is now equipped with a number of stainless steel vats, the size of which is well suited to the plot of land. These vats are equipped with temperature control systems to ensure effective temperature control during the crucial alcoholic and malolactic fermentation phases. Château Hourtou is a true representative of the appellation. The winemaking process is carried out with this in mind. Extraction and vatting are carried out in such a way as to give the wine the body and body that are so characteristic of wines from this Bourgeais region. Antoine De Oliveira, a young man in his thirties, took over Château Hourtou from Michel Sauvanet with the 2010 vintage. Antoine De Oliveira praises the work of his predecessor: “Michel Sauvanet restored the vineyard, which is now at full maturity”. For the estate manager, Château Hourtou is “a pearl in a Côtes de Bourg setting. It’s a small estate with a fairly homogenous terroir and a very well-proportioned winery”. “I have all the equipment needed to turn it into a little Côtes de Bourg jewel”.