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Château Méaume

A Family Vineyard In Bordeaux

A Family Vineyard in the Heart of Bordeaux

For two generations, our family has grown grapes and made wine on this Right Bank estate, located 15kms from the vineyards of Pomerol and Saint-Émilion. We produce a classic Bordeaux Claret - Merlot-based reds from clay-limestone soils that have been in vines longer than anyone remembers.

We're not the famous name on the label everyone recognizes. We're the estate where tractors still move through rows during harvest, where wine-making happens in our cellar (not some corporate facility), and where the family who owns the vineyard is the same family who prunes the vines and pours the tastings.

You can stay in our 18th-century farmhouse, which sleeps eight comfortably and sits next to the vineyard, in front of the pastures. You can visit for wine tastings and cellar tours. You can buy our wines to take home. We also host classic car rallies, because life's short and old Jaguars are beautiful.

This is Bordeaux wine country without the velvet ropes - real farming, honest wine, and the kind of hospitality that comes from actually liking people.

Chateau Meaume drinking

The Farmhouse Gîte

Our 18th-century farmhouse sits on the estate next to the vines. We’ve restored it for guests who want to stay on a working vineyard rather than in a Bordeaux hotel.

Four bedrooms, sleeps eight

Three bathrooms (important detail)

Full kitchen for cooking market finds

Dining room, living room with fireplace

Terrace overlooking the vines

Complete privacy - you rent the whole place

WHY STAY HERE

You're on the vineyard, not looking at it from across the street. Morning walks through the vines. Evening tastings in our cellar. Harvest action if you time it right. No check-out times or breakfast hours - you're on your own schedule.
 

We're 15 minutes from Pomerol, 25 minutes from Saint-Émilion and 40 from Bordeaux city, close to dozens of Right Bank estates worth visiting. Most guests use the gîte as base camp for wine touring, though some barely leave the property.
 

The house works for families, groups of friends (enough bedrooms and bathrooms that nobody fights), wine enthusiasts (context you can't get from hotels), or couples who book the whole place for privacy.
 

Self-catering means flexibility. Shop the local markets, cook when you want, eat on your own time. Or arrange for a private chef to come cook dinner - we know people.

Our Wines

We make one wine really well rather than five wines adequately. We follow strict standards to maintain the quality - lower yields, higher minimum alcohol, extended aging before release. Our

classification exists to reward estates prioritizing quality over quantity. We think it works.

Lush clusters of ripe dark purple grapes on a Bordeaux vineyard vine.

THE BLEND

Mostly Merlot, which thrives in our clay-limestone soils. Cabernet Franc adds structure and those herbal notes. Touch of Cabernet Sauvignon for backbone, with new planting of Malbec that will make their way into the blend as a small percentage over the next 10 years. Then percentages shift vintage to vintage depending on what the year gives us. We blend for balance, not for formula.
 

Right Bank style means softer tannins than the Left Bank Cabernet-dominant wines, more approachable young, but still age-worthy if you're patient. Our wines show dark fruit, some spice, balanced acidity to pair with food. These wines are designed for drinking with cassoulet or entrecôte, not for contemplating in silence (though you can if you want).

HOW WE FARM

Sustainable viticulture, which is a fancy way of saying we don't spray chemicals. Cover crops between rows. Organic practices where possible. We think healthy vines make honest wine, and we'll be farming this land long after current trends change, so shortcuts don't make sense because we farm with future generations in mind.

Sandra Johnson-Hill
Chateau Meaume

TASTING & TOURING

The cellar is open for visits. We taste you through current releases, talk about the vintages, show you where it all happens. If you're staying in our gîte, tastings are included. If you're just visiting, book ahead so we make sure someone's around.
 

Harvest season (late September, usually) is the best time to visit if you want to see everything in action. Tractors, picking teams, full fermentation tanks, the organized chaos of a vintage. Other times are quieter but you get more one-on-one attention.

Why We're Different

Still a Working Farm

We're wine producers first. The gîte and tastings exist because we like sharing what we do. During harvest, grape trucks have priority over guest cars. That's how it should be

Family Operation

Two generations working the same land. We're here because we grew up here, not because we bought a château as an investment.

Right Bank Terroir

Clay-limestone soils are perfect for Merlot. Different from Left Bank gravel, different wine style - softer, fruit-forward, approachable younger. We think it's better, but we're biased.

No Corporate Scripts

When you visit, you talk to people who actually farm and make the wine. We answer questions honestly, including "I don't know" when appropriate. Tastings are conversations, not sales pitches.

Honest Pricing

Quality wine and spacious accommodation at prices that reflect substance over branding. You're paying for what's in the bottle and the house, not for a famous name.

Ripe dark grapes hanging from a vine in a sunny vineyard.

Where We Are

Right Bank Bordeaux, between the city and Saint-Émilion. Clay-limestone soils, rolling countryside, working vineyards in every direction.

Close enough to visit famous estates and Michelin restaurants. Far enough to enjoy countryside quiet and actual stars at night.

PHOTO SPRING - 73.JPG

Get in Touch

Two generations farming the same vines. One family. Real wine.

25 min

Saint-Émilion

40 min

Bordeaux city

50 min

Bordeaux airport

15 min

Pomerol

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