Saint-Estèphe

The commune of Saint-Estèphe is one of the most northerly of the Haut-Médoc region; it enjoys an exceptional location on the banks of the Gironde, which can be seen from the top of most of the hillsides that make up the commune.

The first known activity of this commune goes back to the Middle Bronze Age. Its first vines date from the Roman occupation.

As for the main "privileged" wine-producing communes of the Médoc, it was the Bordeaux merchants who, by raising and selling the wines from this commune themselves, contributed to the appellation's reputation.

The 18th and 19th centuries saw the creation of large properties. Even today, this movement continues with the regrouping of small and medium-sized estates.

The land is generally well drained. By their uneven shape, the gravelly hilltops, quite high, composed of quartz and rolled pebbles, mixed with a light and sandy soil, benefit from an excellent natural drainage, reinforced in the south by the Saint-Vincent channel, which leads to the estuary the waters of the Lafite marsh, and in the north by the Mappon channel, which also leads the waters of the Vertheuil marsh.

The subsoil is generally composed of alios deep enough not to be troublesome; on some points, it is clayey, but it is also quite often stony and calcareous, especially towards the north and west (limestone and marl of Saint-Estèphe).