Château Grand Corbin-Despagne
The Free Bacchus Story
Louis Despagne bought his first plots on the Grand Corbin plateau in 1812. François Despagne, the seventh generation of the family to hold it, took over in 1996 and marked two hundred years of continuous family ownership in 2012.
The conversion took nine years, and the estate publishes the whole of that rather than just the end of it. Organic trials went in on part of the vineyard in 2004, full conversion followed in 2010, and certification came in 2013. Selected plots have been farmed biodynamically on trial since 2018. The property runs to 29 hectares of mostly Merlot with Cabernet Franc, on sand and clay over the plateau.
From the 2019 vintage, every wine in the Saint-Émilion appellations must hold organic, biodynamic or HVE3 certification or be declassified to generic Bordeaux. This estate certified six years before that came in.
Which changes what the certificate means here. In this appellation organic is now the entry requirement rather than a distinction, and that is worth knowing before paying a premium for one.
The nine-year timeline is the more useful number anyway. A page that printed only the certification date would be accurate and would tell you nothing about what the work actually took.
“When you farm organically, you become a vigneron again. You are pro-active and observant.”
Why it’s remarkable
Free Bacchus Verification
- Ecocert Organic + Biodyvin Biodynamic
If you’re buying
Cheat sheet
Save it to your phone. Everything you need to recognise this producer, and three things worth saying about it, at a glance in a shop or across a table.