Château Bonnet

Château Bonnet is located in the north of the Entre-Deux-Mers, on the clay-limestone rises of the commune of Grézillac, which overlook the Dordogne valley some ten kilometres south of Saint-Émilion.
In the 17th century Château Bonnet belonged to Messire Pierre de Reynier, squire, lord of Barre and Bonnet, former captain in the Royal Regiment of Normandy. On 17 September 1744, Jean de Chillaud des Fieux, King’s counsellor and president of the requests of the Palais de la Cour, acquired the property.
Even at that time, this estate had a large vineyard, to judge by the size of the troughs of the cut-stone presses, of which traces remain. His son, Jacques Justin, inherited Bonnet in 1786. He demolished the old manor and built the present château, which was completed in 1788.
Jacques de Chillaud, in danger during the Terror, hid in a well located in an outbuilding of the château (this well is still visible). Having become Jacques Chillaud after losing his titles of nobility, he resigned himself to selling, in 1810, Bonnet and the 100 hectares surrounding it to Eugène Lavignac, who had made his fortune in the colonies.
Eugène Lavignac died in 1864. His son, in 1879, was working stone quarries in the limestone subsoil, still in excellent condition today, which were to become the château’s cellars. On 11 November 1880, Eugène Lavignac junior sold Bonnet to Étienne Brunetière, who himself sold it to Léonce Récapet on 30 December 1897.
Léonce Récapet was at once one of the most important winegrowers of his day and one of the pioneers of replanting after the devastation of the Gironde vineyard by phylloxera. He established 120 hectares of vines around Bonnet. One of his grandsons, André Lurton, became owner of the château in 1953, with 30 hectares of vines. Since then he has devoted himself to rebuilding and developing the vineyards planted by his grandfather.
These now produce, for 50% of the total production, a much-appreciated dry white Entre-Deux-Mers wine from the Sémillon, Muscadelle and Sauvignon grape varieties.
These wines are vinified with great care in order to preserve all the freshness of their fruit, as well as the aromatic characters of their grape varieties.
The estate has a large red vineyard of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. The red Bordeaux produced here is recognised as being far superior to the average for its appellation. Like the grands crus of Bordeaux, a large part of the harvest ages in oak casks for 12 months. Hence the production of two types of wine for the red Bonnet, marketed under two labels: one aged in casks is called “Réserve”, the other, bottled a little younger, is called “moderne”…
The estate forms a vast wine-growing domain that can produce in some years, with its satellites, more than 1300 tonneaux of wine. The wines of Château Bonnet, white as well as red, are now exported and appreciated all over the world. They have won awards at various exhibitions, notably in Paris in 1900, Nantes in 1903 and Liège in 1905.
For more than forty years, they have regularly won gold and silver medals at the various competitions, notably at the Concours Général Agricole in Paris.