Chateau Rieussec

The history of Château Rieussec dates back to 1700, when Carmelite monks settled in Fargues, a small town in Aquitaine. They busily built this estate and ran it until 1790, when, in the midst of the revolution, it was confiscated and sold. Only in 1855 was it awarded the classification of Premier Cru Classé Rieussec Sauternes et Balzac. From that moment on, however, the history of the estate was again difficult and troubled. The numerous changes of ownership from one family to another did not allow continuous and targeted work to maintain the winemaking activity. 1984 was the turning point that marked the difficult road to success. Château Rieussec was purchased by Baron Eric de Rothschild who made notable improvements. The Baron was already the owner of the famous Chateaux Lafite estate, classified as the Premier Cru of Bordeaux red wines. This has brought about a true rebirth for the Château Rieussec vineyards. There are 68 hectares of vineyards and the vines used are Semillion, Sauvignon and Muscadelle. Their main characteristic is that of being predisposed to the formation of noble mold. In jargon, it is called Botrytis Cinerea and allows us to obtain particularly sweet and aromatic wines from the area which take the name of Sauternes. The possibility of having a new estate dedicated to the production of sweet wines pushes the new owners to renovate the rooms for pressing the grapes, fermenting and refining this precious nectar. In order to obtain absolute excellence, selection work was carried out in the vineyard which also led to the abandonment of the production of wine in years that were not considered optimal.