Château des Gravières

The family estate is located in Portets, a delightful village of the Gironde anchored in the heart of the Graves, the historic cradle of the appellation. The wines are made in a traditional manner, respecting the old methods inherited from their elders.
Every day, with perseverance, the Labuzan family has enlarged its vineyard and has been keen to keep its status as an independent winegrower, which means that it brings great exacting standards to its passion: to the cultivation of the vine, the picking of the grapes, and the making and marketing of its cuvées.
Do not hesitate to go and meet them at the château; they will be happy to share the fruit of their work with you.
For seven generations, the Labuzan vineyards have been run by the same family. From the first vine planted in 1847, the estate was gradually built up. Bernard and Nicole, the parents of Thierry and Denis, continued to develop the estate and passed on 18 hectares to their children.
Denis chose to specialise in work in the vineyard, enabling the estate to make the shift towards a viticulture that is both modern and sustainable.
Thierry, for his part, after a first professional life, returned to his passion: vinification. Drawing on his training as an oenologist, he has won the bet of quality with every vintage.
The awards and distinctions won every year by the wines of Les Vignobles Labuzan are today the recognition of this joint work and of the investments made. Now running 48 hectares, Thierry and Denis have known how to draw strength from their complementarity while maintaining this family tradition.
From the press to bottling, their wines bear witness to an art that combines respect for traditional know-how with mastery of modern technologies; in the cellar, stainless steel vats stand alongside oak casks.
On the estate, they have always chosen a terroir-driven viticulture. Indeed, the extraordinary potential of the Graves soils gives deep, complete wines for long ageing. For the vine to express this potential, they must help it at every moment in its growth. It is through a thorough knowledge of the soils that the Labuzan family has been able to choose the interventions most favourable to the growth of the vine at each moment of the year. Their first concern is to obtain quality grapes at the price of a well-worked vine. These grapes, a “true concentrate of terroir”, will pass on all their typicity to the wines they make.
For some years now, the owners have been working to put in place sustainable viticulture with the aim of better preserving the heritage that has been handed down to them and that they will hand on.
Perched on one of the best gravelly plateaux of the appellation, at Portets, their vineyard is made up of 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon. This grape variety mix, atypical for the appellation (closer to what is found in Pomerol), gives the wines a very fine balance. They have received many awards in French and European competitions and are also regularly cited by the specialist press.