Château Bardis

Châteaux Verdus and Bardis come from the old feudal château of Bardis, divided into two distinct lordships of Bardis at the end of the 16th century, one subsequently taking the name of its first owner, M. Verdus. The fiefs then extended as far as Boyentran (in Saint-Germain-d’Esteuil) and Marbuzet (in Saint-Estèphe), and the estates occupied the southern part of the parish of Saint-Martin-de-Cadourne, with the hamlet of Saint-Seurin. Then, with the various divisions, particularly from the Revolution onwards, the whole was often split up and regrouped.
The family of the present owners inherited the old feudal château of Bardis as early as 1490 and set about reuniting the two parts of the château in the early 20th century. In line with a very old tradition (wine was already being produced there in 1647!), Mme Dailledouze, one of the heirs, and her husband undertook the restoration of the wine estate in 1949. The vines, located on the gravelly and gravel-clay slopes to the south-east of the excellent hillside of Saint-Seurin-de-Cadourne, thus still occupy the land that produced one of the first crus of the commune as early as 1745 (W. Franck, 1853). Today, it is their son Alain Dailledouze who perpetuates this long tradition and takes the greatest care of his vines and in his cellar. The oldest (40 years) are harvested by hand by a team of pickers made up essentially of customers. A further particular attention shows this fine attachment to the family land: recent vintages (2003 and 2005) of Château Bardis were partly aged in new barrels whose wood was taken from plots bearing the name Bardis.
Passing visitors can admire the seigneurial dovecote of Bardis, considered one of the most beautiful in Aquitaine. They can also wander through the château museum, which allows them to trace the history of the Médoc since the 15th century through unique period documents, old objects and some very fine documents on the vine and wine.