Chateau Brown, Graves Pessac Leognan Bordeaux Wine

Chateau Brown Graves, Pessac Leognan, Bordeaux wine producer profile, with wine tasting notes, wine ratings, a history of the property, information on wine making and terroir, along with wine tasting reviews. If you want to read about other important, Bordeaux Chateaux: Links to all Bordeaux Wine Producer Profiles

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The history of Chateau Brown dates back almost 1,000 years! Vines were first planted at this location around 1200 BC! The estate takes its name from one of its earlier owners, John Lewis Brown, who moved to Bordeaux from Scotland during the later part of the 18th century.

However, the modern age for Chateau Brown starts in 1939, when it was purchased by Andre Bonnel. The estate stopped producing wine at some point during the 1950′s and the vineyards fell into a dilapidated state.

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Chateau Brown was sold to Jean-Christophe Mau in 2004. The Mau family were well established in Bordeaux as the owners of a large Bordeaux wine negociant firm. They also own Chateau Preuillac in the Medoc appellation. Within a few years of purchasing Chateau Brown, the family sold their interests in the negociant company and focused their efforts on improving the Bordeaux wine produced by Chateau Brown and their other estates. To aid in this effort, the family hired the famed wine consultant, Stephane Derenoncourt.

The 25 hectare Pessac Leognan, Bordeaux wine vineyards of Chateau Brown are planted to 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot and 5% Petit Verdot for the production of red wine. Chateau Brown also maintains small plantings of 4.5 hectares of Bordeaux white grape varietals which consist of 70% Sauvignon Blanc and 30% Semillon. The vineyard is planted to a vine density of 7,200 vines per hectare. The vines are on average, 20 years of age. The terroir is gravel based, with some clay, sandstone and iron deposits. The Merlot vines are as you would expect, planted in the areas with the most of clay in the soil.

The red wine of Chateau Brown is vinified in 100 hectoliter, temperature controlled, stainless steel vats and aged in 33% to 40% new, French oak barrels for between 12 and 16 months, depending on the style and character of the vintage.

The white wines of Chateau Brown are vinified in smaller, 50 hectoliter, stainless steel vats. The white wines are aged in 50% new, French oak for an average of 8 months. There is a second wine which is sold under two different names, for both the red and white wine of Chateau Brown; Le Colombier de Brown and La Pommeraie de Brown. On average, Chateau Brown produces close to 5,000 cases of red Bordeaux wine per vintage from their Pessac Leognan estate and less than 300 cases of white wine per year.