Château Brown

The Château Brown estate, of very ancient origin, owes its name to John Lewis Brown, an English négociant of the 18th century.
At all times, its wines have enjoyed a certain reputation. At the Amsterdam universal exhibition in 1884, Château Brown won a gold medal, like the great Médoc growths: Châteaux Mouton, Léoville-Poyferré, Brown-Cantenac, Pontet-Canet…, in this more fortunate than other Crus Classés that won only a silver medal.
In 1939, André Bonnel bought this estate from M. Gardère. In 1974, Jean-Claude Bonnel gave this growth a boost by replanting 15 hectares on two gravel rises located exactly at the watershed of the two rivers that drain the Graves: the Olivier and the Eau Blanche. He entirely renovated the cellar, which dates from 1880, and equipped it with stainless steel vats, complemented by new oak casks — renewed by a third each year — to which he reasonably entrusts his production for a certain time so that it draws the quintessence of the new barrel.
In 1994, an old family from the South-West of France, the Barthe family, bought the estate to continue its improvement. Work was undertaken both in the vineyard and in the buildings, with the construction of a second cellar that doubles the capacity of the old one. In December 2004, the Barthe family ceded the estate to the Mau and Dirkzwager families. Jean-Christophe Mau was then appointed manager. He has pursued the qualitative renaissance of the estate since the 2005 vintage, bringing his technical and commercial skills. Today, Château Brown is a “podium regular”, among the reliable names of the non-classified growths of the Pessac-Léognan appellation.