Pessac-Léognan · Graves classified growth, red and white
Château Carbonnieux: vintages available, prices and pairings
Carbonnieux red and white, vintage by vintage, with the format, the guide price and what to expect from it today: ready to drink, or for laying down. Tick what interests you, and the quote goes out with your selection.
Vintages on the tariff
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Two wines, one estate
Same estate, same team, two colours, both classified.
Carbonnieux red
Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, a little Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Ready at around six years, it holds for about twenty.
Carbonnieux white
Mostly Sauvignon Blanc, with Sémillon. Crisp and fresh when young, it keeps for about ten years.
One of the largest estates in Léognan (neighbours: Domaine de Chevalier, Malartic-Lagravière), run in the 18th century by the Benedictine monks of the Abbey of Sainte-Croix in Bordeaux. The story goes that they sold their white to the Ottoman court as “Carbonnieux mineral water”. The Perrin family has owned it since 1956. The Graves classification, drawn up in 1953 and revised in 1959, lists sixteen châteaux, all now in Pessac-Léognan; each is classified for its red, its white, or both. The appellation's other châteaux are on the Pessac-Léognan wines page.
The estate has 100 hectares of vines in a single block around the château, split almost equally between red and white. It sits on the crest of a Günz gravel rise with sandy-gravel soils, drained by the Eau Blanche stream; a soil survey identified 119 plots there. The 2016 vintage was of high quality and generous in volume. In 2017, the frost of 27 to 29 April hit about half the white vines and 30% of the red. 2020 budded ten to fifteen days early and saw almost no rain between 17 June and 21 September.
What to serve it with
- The white: oysters (wine with oysters), grilled fish (wine with fish), a fresh goat's cheese.
- The red: roast poultry (wine with poultry), magret (wine with duck), lamb (wine with lamb).
- With cheese: pressed cheeses with the red (wine with cheese).
Which vintage for which occasion
For a drinks reception or an aperitif, the white, which everyone likes. For a wedding meal, the white with the starter, the red with the main course (which Bordeaux for a wedding). For a birthday, the year of birth, if the table has it (birth-year vintage).
Is Carbonnieux a classified growth?
Yes, a Graves classified growth for both its red and its white (1953 classification, revised in 1959).
Should the white be drunk young?
In its first three or four years, it is crisp and fruity: perfect for the aperitif and seafood. Between five and ten years, it becomes fuller and goes better with fish in a sauce or poultry in cream.
When to drink a Carbonnieux red?
Allow six years before opening it and twenty years of good form, a little more in a great year, a little less in a weak year or in half bottles; for the white, two to ten years. The table applies this rule to each line; it is not a tasting note, and a badly stored bottle ages faster.
Are the prices shown the ones in the quote?
They are the tariff's guide prices, incl. VAT, per bottle of the format, excluding delivery. The quote confirms the price, the availability of each vintage and shipping; the delivery grid gives lead times. For a vintage not in the table, the quote request is still open.