Château de Tracy: Vineyards
Hidden among the documents held by Comte Henry d’Estutt d’Assay is a manuscript, dating to 1396, which describes the purchase of Champs de Cris, today still an integral part of the domaine. The documents make clear that even at this early stage, the lands around the estate were already planted to vines, and Champs de Cris remains planted with Sauvignon Blanc today (the vineyard, as described, having been re-established during the 19th century).
The estate lies just to the west of Tracy-sur-Loire, standing on a rocky crop in the commune. The château sits surrounded by several plots of vines, but also large expanses of woodland, Le Grand Bois to the east, La Feuillasse and La Traine to the north, and the Bois des Crots to the north-west. Running to the south and curving up to the west of the estate are the waters of the Loire, perhaps half a kilometre wide here (if we include the shifting sandbanks and islands of silt and shrubbery).
There are 32 hectares of vines with the Pouilly-Fumé appellation, dotted around the hillsides of Tracy, to the west and east of the château and on the Champs de Cris. The terroir is not uniform, hardly surprising with such a large estate; on the Butte de Tracy, the rock which rises above the river, there is predominantly flint and clay. On the Champs de Cris, however, there is limestone, both Kimmeridgian and Portlandian. Wines from the two terroirs are assembled together in the grand vin.
