Chateau Les Barraillots
Chateau Les Barraillots is a tiny, 7-hectare property, established in 1928 by the Brunet family, which bought parcels of vineyards from Chateau Palmer (3rd Growth) in 1928 and Chateau Durfour-Vivens (2nd Growth) in 1933. Brunet was originally a cooper who worked at Chateau Margaux and intended to make wine for his own consumption. His son took the lead in the 1950s to develop the business until Michel Brunet took over in 1963. Since 2002 Michel’s son Yannick has been in charge.
The winery is known as the last small, independent wine producer in the area and one of the only few Crus Artisans in the Margaux appellation. Crus Artisans du Medoc is a classification of small wineries where the owner is actively involved in every aspect of wine production. Estates are selected for their size, quality and value in a process that is renewed every 5 years. There are currently 36 estates in the classification.
Barraillots is quite modest, indeed only in Bordeaux could the small stone outbuilding be called a chateau! But they have great vineyards planted on gravely hilltops at a very high density (10,000 vines per hectare). This density reduces yields and increases grape quality. The vines are too close to allow for anything but manual picking and pruning.
Yannick Martin-Brunet is a real character. He plays guitar in a local band and his wine ages to the music of Pink Floyd. However, his dedication to winemaking is unwavering. In a region where organic production is relatively rare, Yannick is part of a new generation of vignerons who prioritize low-intervention methods. He does not use any chemicals in the vineyard, and uses only cow manure as fertilizer. He farms the same way his great-grandfather did a hundred years ago.
Yannick produces around 40 barrels of wine annually. He continues a tradition, started by his grandfather, of selling some of his production to a Bordeaux negociant, which bottles and markets the wine under a different label. Yannick reserves the finest barrels for himself and bottles them under his own label. The label is designed in Braille, as a tribute to his familial history of blindness.
