Chateau Carbonnieux is located just 10 kilometres from Bordeaux. This beautiful castle (for such is the best word to describe Carbonnieux) overlooks one of the largest vineyards in the Graves region. The estate's seven centuries of history have often been quite dramatic. Carbonnieux is one of the leading Graves chateaux that justified the creation of of the prestigious Pessac-Léognan appellation.

The chateau was originally built during the troubled times of the Hundred Years' War, as can be seen today from the defensive features. Carbonnnieux was often at the heart of turbulent local history. In the latter part of the 19th century, phylloxera struck the Bordeaux vineyards, causing a long period of upheaval. Full recovery came only at the end of the century, but was closely followed by an economic crisis due to overproduction.

Not long afterward came the Great Depression of 1929 and, in its wake, two world wars that ravaged the country, and by no means left the the vineyards unscathed.

For all these reasons, Carbonnieux was not in top form at the end of the 1940s.

There were only 29 hectares of vines left in the early '50s, compared to 60 hectares two centuries earlier. Furthermore, the vineyards were not well-tended, with far too many old and missing vines. The chateau had been uninhabited since the First World War and was in very poor condition. The wine making equipment was in much the same shape. Furthermore, the market for fine wine was hardly buoyant during this period.

There were very few distribution networks in France and export sales were only just starting up again after the war. This was the situation when the Perrin family purchased Chateau Carbonnieux in 1956. Nowadays, Perrin family is also the owner of chateaux Le Sartre, La Tour-Léognan, Bois-Martin, Lafont-Menaut, Haut-Vigneau.

Antony Perrin kindly agreed to this interview with Bordeaux News. Things must not have been very easy at the beginning... I must say that during our first winter at the property, in 1956, the thermometer went down to minus 20° C! The extreme cold knocked out all the vines that were still left. My father came up with an entirely new programme for replanting the vineyards that was fairly faithful to the way they were laid out in the 18th century, when the estate was at its peak.

Replanting began in 1957 and was further intensified starting in 1962.

Putting order into the cellar to make fine wine was so difficult at first that, I must admit, my father was often tempted to simply give up. The wines of Carbonnieux from the 1960s were not of particularly outstanding quality and were sold on a market that was quite saturated.

Times were better in the 1970s, which coincided with an economic boom and increased consumer spending. As of 1980, profits from wine production (the vines had finally reached maturity) were such that we could make some necessary major investments. It was during this decade that a modern wine making facility was created, corresponding to the increased size of the vineyard. An entirely new fermentation area was built in 1990.