Château Tour Saint Bonnet

The history of Saint Bonnet is fascinating to follow, but here we can only recall a few elements of it.
In his interesting booklet “Les Seigneurs de Saint Bonnet en Médoc”, Arnaud Plichet tells us that it was in 1519 that he saw the mention of this Lordship or Noble House appear in the texts for the first time. It belonged to the Minvielle family, who were also lords of Escurac (in Civrac en Médoc) and who held rights over the lordship of La Bernède (in Bégadan). Without doubt, he adds, the origin of the Lordship of Saint Bonnet is well before this date, and goes back at least to 1505, since at that time there is a mention of homage paid to the lord of Castillon (in Saint-Christoly-Médoc), but without the name of the holder, which does not allow him to go back in time with certainty, but only to formulate hypotheses.
The Saint Bonnet estate has been occupied at all times, as attested by the presence of a stone sarcophagus which the oral tradition of the present owners cites as having been found around the house, and the discovery of a bronze coin from the 2nd millennium. Likewise, in 1608 there was a chapel dedicated to Saint Mark, which, partly in ruins, was completely destroyed in 1786.
Until the middle of the 17th century, like most estates in the Médoc, the vocation of Saint Bonnet was essentially agricultural (cereals and livestock), which does not mean that vines were absent, but their cultivation was secondary. Thus, an inventory of the noble house of Saint Bonnet, dated 1692, tells us: in the loft, various grains (wheat, rye, common wheat); in the cellars, 26 barrels of red wine, 20 barrels of white wine, 1 cask of old wine; 135 head of livestock, sheep and oxen.
In 1868, in the second edition of Bordeaux et ses Vins, La Tour-Saint-Bonnet belonged to M. Caranave and produced an average of 80 to 100 tonneaux of red wine.
In 1893, the château bore the name La Tour-Saint-Bonnet-Cazenave and was the property of M. Amédée Lebœuf, who in 1903 sold it to M. Étienne André Lafon. Today it is his granddaughter and her husband, Mme and M. Merlet-Lafon, helped by their children, who run this fine wine estate, which in 1996, following a lawsuit brought by Château Latour in Pauillac, had to drop the “La” before “Tour” and became Château Tour St Bonnet.
On the banks of the Gironde, admirably exposed on the best gravel rises of the commune, the vineyard of Château Tour St Bonnet, maintained in a traditional way (no chemical weedkillers), produces an excellent wine, particularly appreciated and sought after for its finesse and bouquet.
It is quite rightly considered one of the best Bourgeois wines of the Médoc.