Château Romer du Hayot: Vineyards
Despite the construction of the A62 autoroute and the associated destruction of the original château in the early 1970s, the vineyards of Château Romer du Hayot remain largely intact. Although when classified in 1855 they were positioned in Preignac, redrawing of local boundaries mean that today the estate is located in Fargues, although in truth the boundary line between the two communes goes right through the vineyard. Together with the vines of Château Romer they are flanked by the autoroute on one side, to the north, beyond which lies Château de Malle and some rough scrubland. To the west, south and east the vineyard is encircled by land committed to forestry, the trees forming protective regiments around the estate. Apart from the aforementioned Château de Malle, the nearest neighbours are Château Bastor-Lamontagne, west and north a little, and Chateau Suduiraut, west and south a little.
There are 15 hectares of vines belonging to the Hayot family here, so the vineyards dwarf those of Château Romer, which is less than half that size, and with only a fraction of it planted up. Although in the 1990s Stephen Brook described the vineyard as being 70% Semillon, 20% Sauvignon Blanc and 10% Muscadelle, today there is a little more Sauvignon Blanc (25%) and a little less Muscadelle (5%). The vines are 35 years old on average.
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