The Despagne name is a good one to look for if you're interested in Bordeaux wines.  

The family has its roots deep into the "terroir" of Bordeaux, the history going back some 250 years!

The patriarch of the family is Jean-Louis Despagne and his son Thibaut is an energetic and dynamic young fellow.  


Thibaut showing off their vineyards.

Jean Louis worked in the Algerian wine industry as well as that of Argentina.  On a stop in California, he met Mr. Mondavi and got to kiss the ring of the California Wine Pope.

Returning to France, Jean Louis started to work the 20 hectares of Thibaut's grandfather.  Today the Despagne "empire" comprises some 300 hectares and it's growing!


Most of the cellars are fairly "normal" in appearance.  Growing good grapes is the "secret."


Wooden cases don't make the wines taste better.  It's how the fruit is cultivated and vinified.


We're big fans of their Chteau Tour de Mirambeau white wines.  A non-oaked Sauvignon Blanc bottling has been exceptional the past few years.  And the do a barrel-aged Entre-Deux-Mers which is superb!


One of their barrel cellars.



Thibaut says "We try to make wines that are fresh and flavorful.  The climate in Bordeaux is sometimes difficult, so we work hard in the vineyards so we can control and improve the quality."

Despagne believes "Quality comes from the vineyards.  So we think we can change the viticulture to denser plantings, more vines per hectare, for example, in an effort to obtain greater quality.  We're looking for maturity and finesse."

In training their new vineyards, Thibaut says "We leave four branches on the vine, but only one of them bears fruit.  This should help us obtain riper or more mature grapes.  We call these vines little 'bonsai's'.  It's still new to us and we are learning how better to improve our growing conditions.  This is our 'Formula One' vineyard."

We then drove to another facility called "Girolate."



A brand new cellar which will make some mighty fancy wine!


This is NOT one of the cellar workers.



The barrels are set in these new-fangled racks which have 'wheels' that allow for the barrel to be "rolled" in place.

We then returned to the main Despagne home for lunch and some good bottles of their wines.



As with previous vintages, the current bottling of Sauvignon Blanc, a different cuve than their "Entre Deux Mers", is superb.


Nice of them to remember to set a special place at the table for our pal Charles Neal.


We also tasted their barrel-aged white Bordeaux called "Cuve Passion."  This is about 70% Sauvignon and 30% Smillon, this latter variety being from 60 year old vines.  The better part of the Sauvignon component sees time in wood, while the Smillon is done in stainless steel.


Some red meat for the Vin Rouge, their reds being routinely terrific wines.



Here's "Grandma" with the next generation of Despagne winemaker!


I don't think the French ever dine without wine and cheese as part of a meal.



Thibaut's sister....


An older bottle of one of their red wines demonstrated to me that they're making their best wines today.



One of the highlights of this lovely day was meeting our dear friend Valerie Aigron.


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