Château Langoa-Barton: Vineyards
The vineyards of Château Langoa-Barton lie close to the D2 and the Long, as it heads down to the Gironde. Some are located behind the château, next to those of Château Léoville-Barton and Château Léoville-Poyferré. Others lie a little further south, again close to the D2, sandwiched between the vineyards of Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, Château Beychevelle and Château Branaire-Ducru.
Today the vineyard matches closely that which was classified in 1855. There are 17 hectares planted to vines, the soils underfoot a typical left-bank melange of gravel deposits with lenses of clay. The vines are 57% Cabernet Sauvignon, the remainder being 34% Merlot and 9% Cabernet Franc. This is a considerable decline in Cabernet Sauvignon, which only a couple of decades ago accounted for 70% of the vineyards, as described by Bernard Ginestet in St Julien (Aurum Press, 1984). Some other sources put it as high as 74%.
The vines have an average age of approximately 35 years, and are pruned according to the traditional Guyot double method. The work in the vineyards is conventional, both here and at Château Léoville-Barton. There is no formal recourse to any organic or biodynamic methods, although the soils are worked in place of herbicides which are not used at all, and the use of any treatments is said to be raisonnée.
