Château Caillou: Vineyards
Château Caillou lies on the more southerly Haut-Barsac plain, not that far from the autoroute, and close to the edge of the appellation. To the north-east lie Château Cantegril and Château de Myrat, while to the south-east, just down the road in fact, is the rather more famous Château Climens. The Ciron is a couple of kilometres away, in the same direction, beyond Climens, Doisy-Daëne and Doisy-Védrines. To the north, however, beyond the Caillou vineyards, there is little more than woodland and the most peripheral suburbs of Barsac which curve around the top of the appellation in a rather wispy phalanx.
The extent of the Caillou vineyard has not changed much in recent times; there are around 18 hectares of vines which sit in a single block behind and around the château. Of these, the majority are dedicated to the production of Sauternes. We are up on the plateau here, so the soils are classic for the Barsac appellation, a sandy-red clay, but here also with a marked gravelly component, which is presumably the origin of the estate’s name (caillou meaning stone or pebble). Beneath lies the deeper fissured limestone which is often said to be responsible for the fresher character of this particular Sauternes commune.
