Château de Cruzeau

Château de Cruzeau, located on the borders of Martillac and Saint-Médard-d’Eyrans, in the south of the Pessac-Léognan wine region, in the Graves, is a very old terroir.
In 1661, Maître Jacques de Cruzeau, squire and barrister at the parlement of Bordeaux, bought a small house and a few acres of land here. Around this nucleus, within a few years, he gradually built up a fine estate, multiplying purchases of plots and exchanges with his neighbours. Around the residence he created the modern vineyard, located on the best gravel terroirs.
In 1694, the Nolibois brothers, important local merchants, were owners of Cruzeau. This family would keep Cruzeau for nearly two centuries. On the Belleyme map, dating from the 1770s, the vineyard, as we know it today, is perfectly distinct. The wines of this estate were, it seems, highly prized by the brokers of the Bordeaux market, as evidenced by certain purchases of “wine of M. Nolibois” made around 1830 by the house of Tastet-Lawton.
In 1841, the journal “Le Producteur” ranked it as the premier cru of the commune in white and red.
Located on high rises with a southern exposure, the vines are planted in a soil of deep gravel with an extremely large number of rounded pebbles, giving a soil very well suited to the production of great white and red Pessac-Léognan wines. The château itself was built in 1912.
Acquired in 1973, then entirely replanted by M. André Lurton, the vineyard today produces wines of great finesse and perfect elegance. The reds are aged for one year in oak casks. The whites, entirely Sauvignon, are fermented and aged in barrels.
In 1995, André Lurton renovated the vat room and had a large barrel cellar built in 2001. The renewal of this very old and great vineyard is a true resurrection.