A very nice victory for Jean Guyon

At the end of the 1980s, the Château Rollan de By was only owner of two hectares of vines. His terroir, located at the Medoc peak was considered as few favourable to great wines elaboration. Its nickname “Bas Medoc” – the Medoc lowland – attends both to distinguish it from the Haut-Medoc – the higher part of the region - and kindly make fun of a land in which there were no estate selected in the 1855 classification.

Fall under the region’s spell, Jean Guyon is a tenacious man. He invested and the success runs its course. Today, the vineyard of Rollan de By spread over 70 hectares and the estate produces 500,000 bottles per year, all the cuvee taken into account (Rollan de By, La Fleur de By, La Clare, Tour Seran) from which a new micro cuvee.

This is a cuvee Haute Couture, produced from a plot of 5 hectares: the Haut-Condissas. A real discovery on this land, wrongly ignored by the great châteaux… In 2005, Jean Guyon achieved to produce “the perfect vintage”. “I will never be able to produce a better one”, he added then.

The last years, at the occasion of blind wine tasting, Haut-Condissas has several times pinched the better ranks to great Bordeaux. Its last success: the third rank at a competition organized by the European Grand Jury, just behind Pape Clement and Mouton Rothschild but just before Latour as well…

The ambitious Jean Guyon won the bet: thanks to him, the {app:}Medoc{/app} lowlands have won acclaim

2006, September 27 - © Le Figaro magazine

Other information :
• Haut-Médoc
• Médoc
• Bordeaux
• Château Mouton Rothschild
• Rollan De By
• Château Pape Clément
• Château Haut-Condissas