Château du Seuil, Graves

"Château du Seuil excels at understated, oak-aged dry whites from the Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon grapes that seem so at home in this quiet corner of the Gironde" (Hugh Johnson & Jancis Robinson, World Atlas of Wine)  

"One of the region's best dry white wines" (Robert Joseph, The Essential Guide to the Wines of France)
 

The Welsh dragon emblem features on all Château du Seuil labels.

Bob and Susan Watts gave up life in the UK fast lane in 1998 - Bob had been a successful barrister and businessman in Wales - to take on the huge project of Château du Seuil in the southern Graves region of Bordeaux, near to Sauternes. Extensive work on the château, vineyard and winery was undertaken and now it is one of the better estates in this part of Bordeaux producing red and white Graves and a sweet Cérons. They have recently been joined there by daughter Nicola with her husband Sean and their family. From 2000, Nicola has been in charge of winemaking and her early results have been extremely impressive. 2000 was a very fortunate first vintage for Nic who found the quality of the grapes to be good enough to make a small amount of a prestige wine aged 300% in new oak (fermentation, malolactic fermentation and barrel ageing) called "Heritage". With all that oak, it is a wine that undoubtedly needs time to round out in the bottle.

2002 was an excellent year for Château du Seuil (as it was for many left-bank Cabernet-based estates) - the Graves Rouge was recently awarded a Gold Medal at the Challenge International du Vin, the biggest French international wine competition and one of the most famous wine events in the world. It has been in existence for almost 30 years and was France's very first international competition. Over 35 countries are represented each year and roughly 5,000 samples are tasted. Of the total number of wines entered only 25% win an award, with only the very best winning the coveted Gold Medal.

Château du Seuil's white wines were extremely good too in 2002 with the Graves showing a great ability to age. The delicious, honeyed 1999 Cérons was scheduled to be the last production of this wine. However, the enthusiasm for this wine in the UK has encouraged them to make it in years when the circumstances are right.

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