Château Chasse-Spleen
Encyclopedia
Winery
A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feature warehouses, bottling lines, laboratories, and large expanses of...
in the Moulis-en-Médoc
Moulis-en-Médoc
Moulis-en-Médoc is a commune in the Gironde department in Aquitaine in southwestern France.-Geography:The village is situated in the Médoc on a hill, overhanging the Tiquetorte stream, which flows into the Gironde estuary....
appellation
Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée
Appellation d’origine contrôlée , which translates as "controlled designation of origin", is the French certification granted to certain French geographical indications for wines, cheeses, butters, and other agricultural products, all under the auspices of the government bureau Institut National...
of the Bordeaux
Bordeaux wine
A Bordeaux wine is any wine produced in the Bordeaux region of France. Average vintages produce over 700 million bottles of Bordeaux wine, ranging from large quantities of everyday table wine, to some of the most expensive and prestigious wines in the world...
region of France, just north-west of Margaux
Margaux
Margaux is a commune in the Gironde department in Aquitaine in southwestern France.-Geography:The village lies in the Haut Médoc wine making region on the left bank of the Garonne estuary, northwest of the city of Bordeaux.-Population:-Wines:...
. Château Chasse-Spleen was selected as one of six Crus Exceptionnels in the Cru Bourgeois
Cru Bourgeois
The Cru Bourgeois classification lists some of the high quality wines from the Left Bank Bordeaux wine regions that were not included in the 1855 Classification of Classed Growths, or Grands Crus Classés...
classification of 1932, and through later revisions until the annulment of the classification in 2007. The estate is today widely considered to be of cru classé standard.
The name means "to chase away the blues" or "dispels melancholy". A second wine
Second wine
Second wine is a term commonly associated with Bordeaux wine to refer to a second label wine made from cuvee not selected for use in the Grand vin or first label...
is produced under the label L'Ermitage de Chasse-Spleen and another titled l'Oratoire de Chasse-Spleen.
History
Long viewed as the leading cruCru (wine)
Cru is a French wine term which is traditionally translated as "growth", as it was originally the past participle of the verb "croitre" . As a wine term it is closely connected to terroir in the sense of an "extent of terrain having a certain physical homogeneity ....
of Moulis, the estate's viticultural
Viticulture
Viticulture is the science, production and study of grapes which deals with the series of events that occur in the vineyard. When the grapes are used for winemaking, it is also known as viniculture...
history is documented back to 1560, and possibly before. Initially an estate named Grand-Poujeaux, it was owned by the seigneurs Grenier, which may have evolved into Gressier. The estate was divided in 1822 due to inheritance complications, half the property becoming Château Gressier-Grand-Poujeaux, and the remainder passed to the Castaing family. Further divisions in the 1860s resulted in what would become Chasse-Spleen, and the chateaux Maucaillou and Poujeaux-Theil.
One account explaining the estate's name is due to a visit by Lord Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron, later George Gordon Noel, 6th Baron Byron, FRS , commonly known simply as Lord Byron, was a British poet and a leading figure in the Romantic movement...
in 1821, when he became so enamoured by the vines that he said, "Quel remede pour chasser le spleen", or alternately attributed to the poem Spleen whose author Charles Baudelaire
Charles Baudelaire
Charles Baudelaire was a French poet who produced notable work as an essayist, art critic, and pioneering translator of Edgar Allan Poe. His most famous work, Les Fleurs du mal expresses the changing nature of beauty in modern, industrializing Paris during the nineteenth century...
once visited the property.
After the death of the last Castaing, from 1909 to 1914 Chasse-Spleen was owned by the Segnitz family, north-German wine merchants who contributed to the quality and reputation of the estate, but after the outbreak of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
the estate was confiscated as "enemy property", and eventually bought by auction in 1922 by the Lahary family. After maintaining the reputation of the wine for several decades, Chasse-Spleen was sold in 1976 to a consortium controlled by the Merlaut family, eventual owners of châteaux including Gruaud-Larose
Château Gruaud-Larose
Château Gruaud-Larose is a winery in the Saint-Julien appellation of the Bordeaux region of France. It is also the name of the red wine produced by this property...
, Ferrière
Château Ferrière
Château Ferrière is a winery in the Margaux appellation of the Bordeaux region of France. The wine produced here was classified as one of fourteen Troisièmes Crus in the historic Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855...
, Citran
Château Citran
Château Citran is a Bourdeaux wine from the appellation Haut-Médoc rated Cru Bourgeois. The winery is located on the Left Bank of France’s Bordeaux wine region in the commune of Avensan.The estate also produces a second wine named Moulins de Citran....
and Haut-Bages-Libéral
Chateau Haut-Bages-Liberal
Château Haut-Bages-Libéral is a winery in the Pauillac appellation of the Bordeaux region of France. Château Haut-Bages-Libéral is also the name of the red wine produced by this property...
.
After changing career from teacher to winemaker, Jacques Merlaut's daughter Bernadette Villars and her husband took control of the estate and with the collaboration of Professor Émile Peynaud, great improvements to the facilities and quality of wine followed. She became a figure of renown before she and her husband died in a mountaineering accident in the Pyrenees in 1992. To date the estate is run by her daughter Claire Villars.
Production
The vineyard area extends 80 hectares, with the grape varieties of 73% Cabernet SauvignonCabernet Sauvignon
Cabernet Sauvignon is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Canada's Okanagan Valley to Lebanon's Beqaa Valley...
, 20% Merlot
Merlot
Merlot is a darkly blue-coloured wine grape, that is used as both a blending grape and for varietal wines. The name Merlot is thought to derive from the Old French word for young blackbird, merlot, a diminutive of merle, the blackbird , probably from the color of the grape. Merlot-based wines...
and 7% Petit Verdot
Petit verdot
Petit Verdot is a variety of red wine grape, principally used in classic Bordeaux blends. It ripens much later than the other varieties in Bordeaux, often too late, so it fell out of favour in its home region. When it does ripen, it is added in small amounts to add tannin, colour and flavour to the...
.
On average 28,000 cases are produced annually of the Grand vin, and of the two second wines L'Ermitage de Chasse-Spleen and l'Oratoire de Chasse-Spleen, there is produced approximately 14,000 cases.