Château d'Armailhac - Mouton Baron(ne) Philippe

The history of the Château d’Armailhac

Old texts mention the acquisition of the domain by the brothers Dominique and Guilhem Armailhacq in 1680. They were the first owners of the plots in Pauillac. Between 1718 and 1740, the property will expand, Dominique Armailhacq will buy the land between Château Pontet-Canet and Château Mouton-Rothschild.

In 1831, following the purchase of the estate by Madame d’Armailhacq, her son Armand d’Armailhacq was put in charge of it. The vineyard of about 70 hectares will be transformed by using only the noble grape varieties, then modernized in the stages of wine making and maturation of the wine. During this period, the wines were sold at twice the price of neighboring productions, even though they were better priced. The estate acquired a reputation and ended up being classified as the 5^th Grand Cru in 1855.

In 1878, the Château became the property of Count Adrien de Ferrand who continued its development. Nevertheless, the climatic crises as well as that of the mildew, added to the war, pushes his son heir of the field to sell it in life annuity to the Baron Philippe de Rothschild in 1933. One year later, he became the new owner. In 1968, he undertook numerous works with the reconstruction of the vat room and the cellars. The vineyard is reduced to 50 hectares, its current size. The Baron decided to associate it with Château Mouton Rothschild, and so it was named Mouton Baron Philippe, then Mouton Baronne Philippe from 1956 to 1988.

After the death of Baron Philippe de Rothschild in 1988, his daughter, Philippine de Rothschild, ran the estate. In 1989, the Baroness decreed the change of the name of the Château and it thus regained part of its original name “Château D’Armailhac”.

In 2014, his son Philippe succeeded him. Work will be carried out in 2021 with a new cellar and a vat house with 50 stainless steel vats of different capacities for parcel-based vinification and two aging cellars (on two levels).

In 2022, Lucie Lauilhé was installed as the director of the Château d’Armailhac estate.

The terroir

Château d’Armailhac is next to Pontet-Canet and Mouton Rothschild. The vineyard with its old vines (45 years old on average) rests on a gravelly soil, which in turn rests on a clay-limestone subsoil.

The grape variety is rather classical with 53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Merlot, 11% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot.

The berries are picked entirely by hand. In order to ensure their integrity and preserve all their flavors, they are transported by mobile vats to the tanks. The vinification is done in stainless steel vats for a total vatting time of 15 to 20 days. The 16 months maturation in oak barrels (25% new wood) produces woody, powerful, fat and rich wines with long and melted tannins.

The vintages of Château d’Armailhac

The best vintages for this Pauillac wine were 1928, 1943, 1947, 1959, 1961, 1986, 1990, 1995, 1998, 2000, 2005, 2009.

We can find a Château d’Armailhac 2009 around 70 euros.

The years 1929, 1945, 1982 are considered as exceptional years, they are called “vintage of the millennium”.

A bottle of red wine from Château Armailhac 1982 can be found for about 100 euros.

Are you interested in the wines of Pauillac? See also our wines for the following domains:

• Wine Château Pontet-Canet
• Wine Château Pichon Comtesse
• Wine Château Pichon Baron
• Wine Château Mouton Rothschild