Pessac-Léognan AOC
The aristocratic top tier of the Graves, Pessac-Léognan is the only Bordeaux commune equally renowned for both its reds and its barrel-aged dry whites.
About Pessac-Léognan
Carved out of the northern Graves in 1987, Pessac-Léognan is a comparatively young appellation that gathers the district's most historic estates on the doorstep of the city of Bordeaux. Its deep gravel soils — the graves that give the region its name — warm the vines and drain freely, ripening Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot for structured, smoky, cedar-and-tobacco reds led by Château Haut-Brion, the only non-Médoc estate in the 1855 First Growths. Uniquely among Bordeaux's great communes, Pessac-Léognan is equally celebrated for its dry whites, blends of Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon that are barrel-fermented into some of the world's longest-lived white wines. All its estates feature in the Graves classification of 1953/1959. With both colours capable of decades in the cellar, Pessac-Léognan stands as the qualitative summit of the Graves.
Terroir & regulation
Principal producers
- Château Haut-Brion
- Château Smith Haut Lafitte
- Château La Mission Haut-Brion
- Domaine de Chevalier
- Château Pape Clément
Editorial notes
Home to Château Haut-Brion, the only non-Médoc estate among the 1855 First Growths; the only top Bordeaux commune equally famed for reds and dry whites.