Chateau Léoville Poyferré

Chateau Léoville-Poyferré

Chateau Léoville-Poyferré is a Second Growth winery, which is located in the Saint Julien appellation. The estate used to belong to a much larger estate named Léoville; however this was split up during the French Revolution. From this Chateau Léoville-Las Cases and Chateau Léoville-Barton were formed and in 1840 the former was split up again, a portion of which became Chateau Léoville-Poyferré. The Cuvelier family have owned and run the estate since 1921; however the quality had lagged behind the other Léoville estates until the 1970's. Then Didier Cuvelier took the reins, and under the guidance of Guru Michel Rolland since 1995, he has turned the winery around.

The estate has vineyards covering 80 hectares of which the vines are 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 8% Petit Verdot and 2% Cabernet Franc. Now Léoville-Poyferré is one of the best wines in Saint Juliens and due to new techniques employed such as postponing the harvest of the grapes also an increase of new oak in the barrels, the wines have developed more weight and body than their old supple and soft selves.