Château de Pressac — Attraction in Libourne

My partner and I visited nine châteaux in Bordeaux (including Mouton-Rothschild) and this one was my favourite!

The wine was fantastic, of course. But Château de Pressac being a Grand Cru Classé, that was to be expected.

What made it special was the place itself, the stories about the owner-winemaker, and our fantastic guide Lomane.

Place - the chateau is atop a hill, surrounded by its vineyards and arguably has the best view of Saint-Émilion’s hills and slopes. It was apparently also the site where the treaty to end the Hundred Years War was signed, and one of its original medieval towers still stands! Definitely an excellent place to snap a few photos.

Owner-winemaker - I unfortunately did not have the pleasure to meet him, but our guide said that he purchased the chateau after retiring at 48, when the chateau and most of its vines were in bad condition. Now, the chateau has been restored, his first label is a grand cru classé, and his rosé was surprisingly spectacular.

Finally, our guide - Lomane was funny, engaging and very knowledgeable. She knew the answer to every single question, and even did a tutored tasting of the 3 wines (rosé, second label, and 3rd label). Even after hearing about the winemaking process many times before, Lomane made it fun and exciting! She masterfully managed the big group we were in (a tour bus had to join our small group because said tour bus arrived 2 hours late!), and gave me and my partner special attention to make sure we had an awesome experience.

For the price, this is exceptional value, especially relative to the price being charged at other chateaus. Highly, highly...

Château de Pressac is one of the wineries we visited on or recent (1st trip) to Bordeaux. We chose to visit this winery based on online recommendations. We are so glad that we visited!

Our 1st impression is that the grounds, views and the Château are absolutely beautiful!

We were soon greeted by our winery tour guide, who is so Friendly and welcoming. She gave us a nice, but short tour of the grounds and facility. We did not mind the tour being short as we have already learned a lot about wine making.

We then headed to the event room for our tasting, where we sampled (2) 2nd label and (2) 1st label vintages. All of their wines were fantastic! Our tour guide even let us sample and extra wine so we could compare the vintages. During the tasting the owner, Jean-Francois came in with a few people and introduced himself to us. Jean-Francois was so charming and down to earth. He has really built something special.

After the tasting we decided to purchase (1) bottle of the 2018 Grand Cru (1st label). The prices are quite reasonable.

Review of the 2018:

The 2018 Château De Pressac showed beautifully, with a rich, medium to full-bodied, incredibly elegant style that carries lots of darker berry fruits as well as chocolate, earth, bouquet garni, and tobacco. I love its texture, the purity of fruit is spot on, it has integrated tannins, and a great finish.

I recommend visiting this winery as well as visiting the village of...

We scheduled a visit the day before at 14:30 in November but when we got to the Chateau we were greeted by a somewhat sleepy lady and a barking dog. She spoke no English and said there was nobody there to give the tour and I presume she said the tour guide had fallen ill. Unfortunately, nobody called to say it was cancelled and I’m a little surprised as well since the tourist office had scheduled it as the Chateau of the day. I understand things come up like this but a little heads up notice would have been helpful since we planned our day around visiting the Chateau.

As a word of warning, St Emilion during this time of year is pretty much closed to include all of the restaurants and wine bars. Most if not all of the wine stores are still open if you’re looking to try before you buy. If you’re looking for a wine drinking experience do not come in the late fall/winter unless there’s a special planned event or have confirmed your visit to any of the many chateaus...