Jonathan Maltus: Château Teyssier
As I have already described in my introduction, Château Teyssier, the hub of Jonathan Maltus’ operations in Bordeaux, is located in Vignonet, one of the five St Emilion communes, down on the sandy plains below the more exalted limestone côtes and plateau on which the town sits. The property has a long history of wine production, stretching back as far as 1714 when it was little more than a farm. Things stepped up a gear when the estate was purchased by historian Jules Roy (1844 – 1914) in 1869, who was responsible for the construction of the very pretty château which still graces the estate today, as well as a revitalisation of the vineyards. Thus throughout the 20th century Château Teyssier was a well established wine-producing estate, but otherwise little of note appears to have happened here, at least until the arrival of Jonathan and Lyn Maltus in 1994.
At first there was only Jonathan, his wife Lyn and one employee to run the whole estate, covering everything from winter pruning to making and marketing the wines. Today the vineyard has expanded to something like 50 hectares, and over the years since they purchased the domaine Jonathan and Lyn have instigated a series of modernisations, rebuilds and refurbishments. The château was restored, with an interior design in the French style, although on a very recent visit in 2012 it had been extensively modernised, making Teyssier into a 21st-century home to admire and envy (which means I admire it, whereas my wife envies it).
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