Château Haut-Brisson: Vineyards
Château Haut-Brisson is located in Vignonet, a short walk from Château Teyssier, and I really was en route to this latter property for a tasting with Jonathan Maltus when I first passed the gates of this estate. Château Teyssier is located just to the southwest (indeed, the Teyssier cellars are visible beyond the vines in the image below). Other near neighbours, including Château Barrail Bellegrave and Château d’Arcole to the south-west, are perhaps less well known.
There are 20 hectares of vines spread over four communes, including Saint-Sulpice-de-Faleyrens and Vignonet, both of which are on the flat and featureless terrain of the flood plain. Some vines are therefore closely approximated to the château, but others are dotted across the landscape, between the château and the suburbs of Libourne. One significant parcel is near Château Gessan, close to the pasture alongside the banks of the Dordogne, while smaller parcels sit near Château Monbousquet and Château Cantenac. The soils in all these parcels are typical of the plain, being a variable mix of silty, sandy and gravelly soils.
Perhaps of more note are several hectares of vines up in Saint-Etienne-de-Lisse, on the edge of the plateau, these being the vines acquired when Peter Kwok purchased Château Tourans in 2015. These new parcels brought several advantages, as not only do these add more highly prized clay and limestone soils into the mix, they are also protected from frost by their elevation.
