Château Haut Brion

It was in the Graves terroir that Jean de Pontac established the Château Haut-Brion wine estate in 1525. His descendants succeeded in producing a new type of wine – the New French Clarets – which was at the origin of today’s great wines. These efforts enabled Arnaud III de Pontac, from 1660 onwards, to identify and personalise his production: the wines of Pontac, then Haut-Brion, enjoyed immense success in London. The first of the Grands Crus Bordelais was born.

Some illustrious men have left their mark on Haut-Brion: Count Joseph de Fumel, Marshal, Governor of Guyenne and Mayor of Bordeaux; Talleyrand, then Minister for External Relations under the Consulate; and, more recently, the Ambassador of the United States of America in Paris, C. Douglas Dillon, who also served as his country’s Minister of Finance when J.-F. Kennedy was President.
In 1961, Haut-Brion was the first of the Grands Crus to use new stainless steel fermentation vats, just as it is today a pioneer in improving the grape varieties it uses through meticulous personal clonal selection.

For nearly five centuries, the owners and managers of Haut-Brion have been obsessed with this continuity of quality.
Elevated to the rank of Premier Cru Classé de la Gironde in 1855, Haut-Brion owes it to itself to remain there.