Château du Tourte

Winegrowers’ Portraits Toulenne

CHÂTEAU DU TOURTE

A dream comes true…

The pretty chartreuse and its wine storehouses, anchored in the most beautiful soils of the Graves appellation, have seen history march past with a big ‘H’ since 1673. This setting of vines, in the district of Toulenne, close to Langon, facing the slopes of the Garonne, was purchased by Hubert Arnaud in 1994. It grew little by little from 4 to 10 hectares.

Native of Bordeaux, passionate about horses and sailing and a childhood friend of Denis Dubourdieu (owner of vineyards and highly skilled professor at the Faculty of oenology of Bordeaux), Hubert Arnaud turns quite naturally to him to make one of his most precious dreams come true: to be able to set eyes on his very own vineyard and to bring it to maturity until the ultimate pleasure of creating a wine worthy of the Graves and Bordeaux Appellations.

The vineyard of the Château du Tourte is reborn thanks to the tenacity of its new owner. Trained as an engineer, student of the Federal Polytechnic School in Switzerland and an ex-IBMer, his path sent him towards a directory position in the sector of data processing. But the idea to become a “gentleman farmer” kept at him. Following the recommendations of his childhood friend, his dream became reality with the support of Valerie Lavigne, renowned oenologist and right-hand woman of Denis Dubourdieu: the adventure could start.
From then on, the old vineyard that is exploited with integrated agriculture of 8 ha in red and 2 ha in white, offer superb grapes. This raw material, in the two colours, resulting from this clay-gravel hilltop, requires all of their attention:

“We work the vineyard like a garden, respecting nature, with the objective of creating wines with a special personality and style which would please the greatest number of amateurs as well as me. Even my children, four in all, are implicated each one in their own domain in the valorisation of the Château and the wines. The distribution of the production is equally shared amongst France and exportations”.
Divided between his activity in data processing and the property, only 20% of his time is devoted to his passion. He only half admits: He would like to increase the surface of the vineyard and to continue to develop this garden in order to consolidate his presence on the beautiful tables of France, like Taillevent, Ritz and other great names of fine cuisine. He would also like to increase the exports, most particularly to Asia, all the while keeping his head on his shoulders and his feet on the ground.Florence Varaine

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Château du Tourte
5 Route du Château Respide
33210 Toulenne
Tél.: +33 (0)9 60 10 03 81
www.chateaudutourte.com