Good names tell memorable stories. Fonréaud comes from "Font-réaux" and means "royal well" - because in the 12th century, according to chroniclers, the King of England stopped here to drink from a fresh spring. Today, we would rather stop for a tasting at the winery, which has plots in both the Listrac appellation and the smallest of the local appellations, Moulis.
The château was to be built on the site of a former farmhouse in 1850. It remained unfinished for a long time until Léo Chanfreau, a winegrower in Algeria, returned to France in 1962. He replanted the vineyard, installed concrete vats for fermentation, some of which are still in use today, and built the house stone by stone.
His successors Jean and Marie-Hélène Chanfreau and Caroline Chanfreau-Philippon now cultivate the slopes of around 40 hectares, which are shaped like an amphitheatre and also mark the highest point in the Médoc at 43 metres above sea level. „A mosaic of gravelly soils resting on an Oligocene clay-limestone base, our different soils are planted with the traditional grape varieties of the Médoc, depending on their composition. Cabernet Sauvignon, the grape variety for deep and dry soils, Merlot, which is grown on slightly more nutrient-rich soils, and Petit Verdot, which thrives on warm soils.“
Sauvignon Blanc, Sémillon and Muscadelle are cultivated for the white wine „Le Cygne“.
The sorted grapes are fermented in thermo-regulated concrete vats, differentiated by parcel. The grapes are then matured in oak barrels for a year before being blended. the wine is bottled 20 months after the grape harvest.
© Images: Château Fonréaud
