Chateau Leoville Poyferre

Address: Château Léoville-Poyferré 33250 Saint-Julien-Beychevelle France

Telephone: +33 (0)5 56 59 08 30

Visits: By appointment only

Details: Saint-Julien, 2ème cru classé, 80ha, gravelly & sand-gravel

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

History:

Léoville Poyferré has enjoyed two golden ages. First, as part of the esteemed 18th century vineyard of Chateau Léoville whose reputation soared under the skilful de Gascq family. And more recently, in its own right under the ownership of the Cuveliers, who in the 1920s acquired a somewhat battle-weary vineyard in which a series of previous owners had struggled to ward off the worst effects of oidium, phylloxera and mildew in the late 1800s followed by financial hammer blows of WWI. The Cuveliers, negociants in Bordeaux since 1804, were slow to get started though, and real advance came only in the 1980s under the direction of third-generation Didier Cuvelier. In his hands the Poyferré hectares (split from the parent estate in 1840, then inherited by Baron de Poyferré) have been reinvigorated by an intensive program of expansion, replanting and modernisation.

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