Château d'Armailhac
Pauillac • France
Image: WikipediaChâteau d'Armailhac
33250 Pauillac
France
Phone: +33 5 56733400
Fax: +33 5 56732044
Internet: www.chateau-darmailhac.com
The origins of Château d'Armailhac, located in Pauillac and classified as a Cinquième Grand Cru in 1855, date back to 1720 or – according to other sources – 1725. Nicolas-Alexandre de Ségur (1697-1755), who owned the châteaux Mouton, Lafite, Latour and Calon-Ségur at this time, sold parts of his Mouton estate. Joseph de Brane acquired the majority of the land and thus laid the foundations for Château Brane-Mouton (today: Mouton Rothschild). A smaller part of the land and an estate building went to Dominique Armailhacq. Viticulture was practised on the estate, now called Mouton d'Armailhacq, from around 1750. The original vineyard area of 15 hectares was expanded to 52 hectares by the end of the century.
In the early 20th century, the estate ran into economic difficulties. In 1931, the owner family founded the Société anonyme du domaine de Mouton d'Armailhacq. After initially only acquiring shares in the company, Baron Philippe de Rothschild took over the entire winery a year later. The château subsequently changed its name several times: in 1956 it became Mouton Baron Philippe, in 1975 Mouton Baronne Philippe and in 1989, under Baroness Philippine de Rothschild, finally d'Armailhac.
Today, the winery cultivates around 76 hectares. Compared to the neighbouring Mouton Rothschild, d'Armailhac has a higher proportion of Merlot and Cabernet Franc. The current grape variety mix consists of 55 % Cabernet Sauvignon, 35 % Merlot, 8 % Cabernet Franc and 2 % Petit Verdot.
The vines are planted on gravel soils typical of the Médoc around the village of Pauillac. The Plateau des Levantines and the Plateau de l'Obélisque consist of a light, deep gravel soil and offer ideal conditions for the cultivation of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. On the Plateau de Pibran, there is medium-heavy gravel soil on a clay and limestone subsoil. In contrast, the Croupe de Béhéré is characterised by lighter, gravelly and well-drained sandy soil, which allows the grapes to ripen evenly.
D'Armailhac has had a new, modern wine cellar since 2021. The grapes are now vinified there parcel by parcel in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks. The wine then matures for around 18 months in French oak barrels. About a quarter of the barrels are replaced annually.
The Wines at a Glance
2022 Château d’Armailhac
Cinquième Grand Cru Classé
France
Bordeaux ↳ Pauillac • Appellation d'origine protegée (AOP)
14.5 % vol alcohol
2002 Château d'Armailhac
Cinquième Grand Cru Classé
France
Bordeaux ↳ Pauillac • Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC)
12.5 % vol alcohol
Symbols
| 🯅 | The rating of the wine is based on a single taster. The taster is named in the context of the rating. The tasting was either open or blind. In case of a blind tasting, it is explicitly labelled as such. |
| 🯅🯅 | The rating of the wine is based on two tasters. The tasters are named in the context of the rating. The tasting was carried out according to the four-eyes principle, in which both tasters agree on a joint rating. |
| 🯅🯅🯅 | The rating is based on a tasting by our jury and indicates the Mean value calculated by us from the individual ratings of the tasters. Our mean value is based on the median. |
| ⚖ | The wine was evaluated in a blind tasting. We have strict rules for blind tastings. The tasters do not receive any information that would allow them to identify the wines. The tasters are only given access to further information that goes beyond the subject matter if it is absolutely necessary for understanding the wines. |
| 🕓 | We only had limited time to taste the wine - typically during an open tasting event, such as a wine fair. It was therefore not possible to observe the development of the wine in the glass over a longer period of time. The informative value of our rating may therefore be limited under certain circumstances. |
| ⛬ | The wine was tasted as a barrel sample or before an official test number (Amtliche Prüfungsnummer or Staatliche Prüfnummer) was issued. We only accept samples of unfilled wines in exceptional cases, and then only if we can assume sufficient stability in the bottle for a period of at least three months. |
| ▲ | During our tasting, the wine showed conspicuous sensory characteristics. This does not necessarily have to be a wine fault. We categorise the quality and quantity of the abnormality and include it in the rating. Wine faults such as cork taint or an atypical ageing generally lead to a complete rejection. |
| Tastings that refer to the same bottle of a wine are visually summarised by a dotted line. |