Château Croix-Mouton sits on a bend of the Dordogne in Lugon-et-l’Île-du-Carney, at the edge of the Fronsadais. The estate covers 100 hectares, including woods and a pond, and its 64 hectares of vineyard lie on a single, unbroken plot. Gallo-Roman remains found on the property show that vines have grown here for a very long time. Over the centuries the Dordogne has flooded its banks and left behind layers of silt, building up the alluvial ridge the vines grow on today: deep clay and clay-silt soils, rich in magnesium. The vineyard is about 90% Merlot, with the oldest vines now around 80 years old, and it is farmed under HVE level 3 environmental certification, with grass between the rows.
In the 1930s the château’s owner, Doctor Barde, practiced medicine in the neighboring village of Vayres and recommended his own wine to his patients. After his death the estate slowly stopped its production, until Jean-Philippe Janoueix, already an owner in Pomerol and Saint-Émilion, bought it in 1997 with the goal of making it one of the leading wines of its appellation. Today, Maria Deval and Bertrand Ravache carry that work forward, with renowned oenologist Claude Gros advising in the cellar. Since 2022, each vintage’s label carries its own “M,” designed to reflect the weather of that year.
