The dynamic Jean Guyon (owner of châteaux Rollan de By, Tour Seran, and La Clare) bought Château Haut-Condissas - until then a rather obscure estate - in the late 1990s, and it was immediately clear to him that the estate had a tremendous potential.

Located on a clay-gravel rise with good sun exposure, the vineyard was entirely replanted with a majority of Merlot to meet consumer demand for fruity, expressive wines.

In addition to extremely meticulous viticulture and winemaking, Jean Guyon's objective is to pick fully ripe grapes with yields much lower than average for the appellation, and to sort them thoroughly.

Aging takes place in new oak barrels along with bâtonnage (stirring with a stick). Haut-Condissas can be compared in many ways to certain "garage wines" from the Right Bank.

Other unique aspects of this estate are that Jean Guyon sells this wine (like those from his other estates) in an elegant three liter Escada bag-in-box, and also produces a kosher wine.

In the Bottle

Since acquiring Haut Condissas in 1999, Jean Guyon has been determined to make this estate among the best in the Médoc. Of course, his track record is not long enough to make a valid judgement, but the latest vintages have a surprising depth of fruit as well as beautiful, silky tannin - most likely due to the large proportion of Merlot.

Entirely replanted in the past few years, the vineyard is still young (10-15 years old). As a result, the wines from this cuvée prestige should certainly gain complexity in time. 2006, 2005 and 2001 are already at a remarkable level. This is an estate to watch closely.

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Haut Condissas