Château Picoron

The history of this wine estate goes back a very long way. Indeed, the existence of a human presence in Antiquity at Sainte-Colombe was revealed in 1842, when a fragment of mosaic dated to the 3rd century was discovered. In 1963, major excavations uncovered an agro-industrial complex made up of rooms and basins with settling hollows (cupules). These perfectly watertight tanks must have served as housing for a press, the settling hollows then serving to collect the liquids from the pressing of the fruit.
From 1570 to 1580, it belonged to the brothers Jean and Bertholme Picoron, hence probably its name. Subsequently, this estate belonged to various more or less important or colourful figures. Among them we may cite the Vicomte de Castillon, Prince de Turenne (1668), or Jean Baptiste Cuiville, a priest by profession and of Sainte-Colombe since 1735, who had bought the house from François de Meynier, squire and sieur de Lamothe. It was certainly the latter who gave the house the Régence character of its south façade, also creating the two fireplaces on the ground floor.
This estate was already so named in a notarial deed dated 9 November 1874. At that time, it was occupied by Jean Galinou, a former grocer, and his wife Marie Vacher. They sold it to Adolphe Verneuil, a négociant living in Castillon, rue de la Grave, from an old family of the region. His daughter Hermence, married to Léonce Playoult, made the estate prosper through her in-laws; and in 1908 (8th edition of Bordeaux et ses Vins), Picoron acquired the title of “château”.
The S.C.E.A. des Vignobles Bardet, run by Philippe Bardet, manages all the châteaux belonging to the family:
– in Saint-Émilion Grand Cru;
in Saint-Laurent-des-Combes, Château Franc-Le-Maine and in the commune of Vignonet, Château du Val d’Or, Château Pontet Fumet and Château du Paradis,
– in Castillon Côtes de Bordeaux;
in Gardegan-et-Tourtirac, Château Lideyre and Château Rocher Lideyre, and finally Château Picoron in Sainte-Colombe.