Chateau Montrose

Address: Château Montrose 33180 Saint-Estèphe France

Telephone: +33 (0)5 56 59 30 12

Visits: By appointment only

Details: Saint-Estèphe, 2ème cru classé, 65ha, gravel-clay

Vineyards: Cabernet Sauvignon 65%, Merlot Noir 25%, Cabernet Franc 8%, Petit Verdot 2%

History:

Montrose lies on a sheltered gravelly knoll just 800m from the Gironde estuary. Until the latter half of the 18th century the terrain was a patch of scrub and moorland, ‘La Lande de l’Escargeon’, in a forgotten corner of the vast Ségur holding. Etienne Théodore Dumoulin bought it in 1778, as part of the Calon estate, and son Etienne, recognising winemaking potential, planted the first vines there 37 years later. Before he died in 1861 he had expanded the vineyard to 50 hectares, achieved Second Growth ranking, and installed state-of-the-art winemaking facilities – and a small château. Five years later the property belonged to Mathieu Dolfus: he continued the good work, even adding a small railway to transport the wines to the river. When Dollfus died, the estate was bought by the Hostein brothers, owners of Cos d’Estournel, and in 1896 it passed to a son-in-law, Louis-Victor Charmolue, whose family saw it sucessfully through the turbulent years of the early 20th century and beyond. Since 2006, Montrose has been owned by Martin and Olivier Bouygues.

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