Chateau Reignac Bordeaux Superieur, Complete Guide

Learn everything about Chateau Reignac Bordeaux Superieur, with wine tasting notes and wine with food pairing tips. Learn the best vintages, a history of the property, information on the vineyards and winemaking. If you want to read about other important, Bordeaux Chateaux: Links to all Bordeaux Wine Producer Profiles

Chateau Reignac History, Overview

The creation of Chateau Reignac dates back to the late 16th century, when the original chateau was created. The estate was given a major update when their greenhouse was erected, based on a design by a design by Gustave Eiffel, the famous architect that created the famous Eiffel Tower in Paris.

However, the modern era for Chateau Reignac begins in 1990, when the vineyard was purchased by Stephanie and Yves Vatelot. The debut vintage for the new owners was sold under the name of Reignac Prestige. The Vatelot family were dedicated owners with a spare no expense attitude in their efforts to produce the best wine possible from their terroir. After purchasing Chateau de Reignac, Yves Vatelot turned things around quickly.

They quickly moved to improve their viticultural practices and immediately began harvesting by hand, instead of by machine. The estate was completely renovated as were the the cellars. Next, they brought in Michel Rolland to consult. Yves Vatelot also replanted much of the vineyard and increased the density of the vineyard plantings.

Chateau Reignac became the first Bordeaux to sell their wines on the American market utilizing a direct-to-consumer model. They have their own website where consumers can buy their wine instead of the traditional route of purchasing the wine on the Place de Bordeaux through a negociant.

Chateau Reignac Vineyards, Terroir, Grapes, Winemaking

The large, 74-hectare vineyard of Chateau Reignac is planted to 65% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Cabernet Franc for the red wine. For the white wine, 2.1 hectares of vines are planted to 53% Sauvignon Blanc, 23.5% Semillon and 23.5% Sauvignon Gris.

The estate is a massive 135-hectare property with 60 hectares of vines devoted to greenery, parkland, and verdant slopes.

The vineyard is situated on the western side of the Entre Deux Mers appellation. The vineyard is planted to a vine density of 6,000 vines per hectare. The terroir is gravel and clay soil, which is perfect for the Cabernet Sauvignon and limestone with clay soils for the Merlot. The white wine grapes are planted in the limestone soils.

To produce the red wine of Chateau Reignac, the wine is vinified in vats. Actually, they have applied for a patent to protect their vinification process. What happens is, the grapes are placed in the barrel through a specially designed lid before maceration. Or if it is after cold maceration, the grapes travel from stainless steel vats on a specially designed sluice. 

The barrels rest on a rack allowing for easy rotation, along with an internal device that is attached to the head of the barrel. Once the maceration and fermentations’ are completed, the wine is racked from a sluice valve that is attached to a removable barrel head. The lid opens and the pomace can be easily removed.

Lastly, the detachable barrel head is eventually replaced with a traditional top while the wine ages in the barrel. These steps, along with the intense efforts in the vineyard allow this wine to compete with many Right Bank properties in blind tastings.

Malolactic Fermentation takes place in 100% new oak barrels. The wine of Chateau Reignac is aged in 100% new, French oak barrels for between 16 and 20 months. A portion of Chateau Reignac is micro-vinified, meaning it is barrel fermented.

For Reignac Blanc, their white Bordeaux wine, vinification and aging take place in a combination of 80% new French oak barrels, while the remaining 20% is vinified and aged in egg-shaped, cement vats for 9 months before bottling.

When to Drink Chateau Reignac, Anticipated Maturity, Decanting Time

Chateau Reignac is much better with at least 2-4 years of aging in good vintages. Young vintages can be decanted for 1 hour or so. This allows the wine to soften and open its perfume.

Older vintages might need very little decanting, just enough to remove the sediment. Chateau Reignac offers its best drinking and should reach peak maturity between 3-14 years of age after the vintage.

Serving Chateau Reignac with Wine, Food, Pairing Tips

Chateau Reignac is best served at 15.5 degrees Celsius, 60 degrees Fahrenheit. The cool, almost cellar temperature gives the wine more freshness and lift.

Chateau Reignac is best paired with all types of classic meat dishes, veal, pork, beef, lamb, duck, game, roast chicken, roasted braised, and grilled dishes. Chateau Reignac is also good when matched with Asian dishes, rich fish courses like tuna, mushrooms, and pasta.

The best wine from Chateau Reignac is called simply Reignac. The wine is produced from the estate’s oldest vines which are on average more than 40 years of age. This is the wine that you read most of the good comments on.

There is a second wine, Chateau de Reignac. This causes some confusion in the marketplace, due to the extremely similar names of the Grand Vin and the second wine. The second wine, which is called Chateau de Reignac features a white label and comes in a typical Bordeaux-shaped bottle. The Grand Vin has a brown label is comes in a taller bottle.

Balthus

In 2002, Reignac introduced a new, top-of-the-line wine, Balthus with the purchase of a small parcel of vines. Balthus is produced from a 3-hectare parcel of 100% old vine Merlot.

Balthus is produced using 100% micro-vinification techniques, meaning that the wine is made completely in the barrel from start to finish. In that regard, Balthus was ahead of the curve for small production wineries.

If you jump ahead about 8 years later, a few of the top Right Bank estates are also using micro vinification techniques, most notably La Violette in Pomerol. Balthus is the most expensive wine from vines planted in the Entre Deux Mers appellation as well as the most expensive Bordeaux Bordeaux Superieur.

The best vintages of Chateau Reignac are: 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2012, 2010, 2009 and 2005.

Chateau Reignac is a rich, concentrated, opulent, ripe, up-front style of wine that offers a lot of pleasure for the money. Plus, the wine shows well young.

Chateau Reignac is an outstanding value Bordeaux wine made in a crowd-pleasing style that drinks well on release, offers good character, and remains fairly priced. On average, when combined, the total production of Chateau Reignac is close to 30,000 cases per year.

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