Château la Tour de By


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Located in Bégadan, north of the Médoc appellation and close to the Gironde, La Tour de By has very ancient roots. From the 16th century, vines have been cultivated at La Tour de By and the Château's known origin dates back to 1599, when it was acquired by Pierre Tizon, lord of the fief of By. The Tower was built in 1825 on the ruins of a wheat mill, serving as a lighthouse for sailors sailing on the Gironde estuary until the beginning of the 20th century. Alfred Rubichon had the current castle built in 1876, near the Tour de By. Produced since 1959, its wines are aged with pure respect for tradition, in the heart of one of the oldest traditional Médoc cellars. The resurrection of this vineyard would not have been possible without the presence of a magnificent terroir, the natural cradle of some of the best wines of the Médoc. Family property since 1965, the Château la Tour de By is now run by two of Marc Pagès's grandsons. Ideally located between the Atlantic Ocean and the Gironde estuary, the Médoc enjoys a climate that is both warm and temperate, largely bathed in light and sun. From the sixties, the agricultural engineer Marc Pagès surrounded himself with the best advice from professors and oenologists. Cru Bourgeois Supérieur since 1932, La Tour de By rose to the level of Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel in 2003 and became a member of the Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux. The vineyard, recently extended to 109 hectares, is spread over 2 large areas: 65 hectares on the gravel ridge of the Tour de By in Bégadan, and 44 divided between gravel ridge and clay-limestone soil in St Christoly. From the assembly of noble grape varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc is born the richness of the range of its wines. Mechanical harvesting, thermoregulation, aging in stave oak barrels and stay in the aging cellar, half buried and perfectly air-conditioned, ensure a modern technological contribution to the winemaking process. Since the 1980s, operations have given priority to ecological methods and the management of diseases and parasites, in order to minimize the use of chemicals by playing on the complex interactions between harmful and beneficial organisms.