The vineyard is located in the commune of Sauternes in the area of the same name in Graves(Bordeaux). It was bought in 1709 by Romain de Filhot (1641-1710). His descendant Gabriel Barthélémy Romain de Filhot was President of the Bordeaux Parliament and expanded the estate in 1788 by purchasing Château Coutet. In that year, the later US President Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) rated Château Filhot as the best Sauternes estate after Château d'Yquem. However, the owner lost his head during the French Revolution in 1794. His daughter Joséphine Geneviève Filhot married the Marquis de Lur-Saluces, Antoine Marie Henry Amédée (owner family of Château d'Yquem) in 1807. The magnificent château was built under the aegis of his son Romain-Bertrand de Lur-Saluces (1810-1876). The estate was called "Château Sauternes" for a few years, but was given its old name in 1901. In the 1855 Bordeaux Classification, the estate was categorised as Deuxième Grand Cru Classé.
The estate then remained in the ownership of the Lur-Saluces family until 1935. In that year, it was acquired by the Comtesse de Durieu Lacarelle (sister of the Marquis de Lur-Saluces) and later modernised by her son Louis de Durieu Lacarelle in the 1970s. Finally, in 1976, it was bought by Comte Henri de Vaucelles, who gave up red wine production. Today it is run by his son Gabriel de Vaucelles. The estate covers 350 hectares of land, of which "only" 62 hectares are planted with vines. These are the white wine varieties Sémillon (60%), Sauvignon Blanc (36%) and Muscadelle (4%). For a long time, the wine was matured almost exclusively in glass fibre tanks and only occasionally with a small amount of wood. Today, the noble sweet wine is slowly fermented in stainless steel and matured for 24 to 36 months in barrique barrels, one third of which are new. A dry wine is produced under the name "Chateau du Pineau Rey Sec".
Image: by Gabriel de Vaucelles - Château Filhot, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link
