Chateau Lassegue

While Chateau Lassegue has a long history in St. Emilion, with a chateau that was constructed in the mid to late 1600s, the modern era for the property starts quite recently. This can be dated to when the vineyards were purchased by the famed, California vintner, Jess Jackson in 2003 from the Freylon family. After Jess Jackson passed away in 2011, his wife, Barbara Banke took over managing the estate full time, along with Pierre Seillan. However, Nicolas Seillan, the son of Pierre, and Christina Seillan, the daughter-in-law of Pierre have been taking a more active role in managing the estate.

The large, 24-hectare, Right Bank vineyard of Chateau Lassegue is planted to 60% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Franc and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon. The terroir is deep clay, chalk, and limestone soils. The vines are old, with an average age of more than 40 years.

Chateau Lassegue is vinified in stainless steel tanks. The wines are aged in an average of 50% to 70% new, French oak barrels for 15 months, prior to bottling. The oak barrels used at Chateau Lassegue are unique because the cooperage is owned by the Jackson family. In 1997, Jess Jackson formed a partnership with the Boswell family. In the beginning, this was to simply produce the oak staves needed to make barrels. Slowly, over the years they expanded their relationship, and eventually, they began producing their own oak barrels in America and in France. In Bordeaux, they own Tonnellerie Quintessence. Tonnellerie Quintessence is a forest-specific, designated barrel producer. Each barrel is labeled with GPS coordinates letting the winemaker known where the tree used for that specific barrel was pulled from in the forest.