Sign in the vineyard of Château des Annereaux, Lalande-de-Pomerol

Vines, people and time

Château des Annereaux lies in the Lalande-de-Pomerol appellation and has been farmed by the same family since 1390, over twenty generations. Its 25 hectares, in a single block, grow on gravelly and sandy-gravel soils over deep clay, and the wines set out to reflect that terroir.

The estate has been farmed organically since 2007, certified since the 2010 vintage, and has been B Corp certified since 2023. Nesting boxes for birds and bats, hedgerows, beehives, fruit trees and solar panels are part of a long-term effort to protect biodiversity and reduce the estate's carbon footprint.

Every day, the team works towards wines of finesse and balance. At Château des Annereaux, each bottle tells the story of a family, a landscape and a commitment.

The château, 1910
The vat room, 1911
Harvest, 1918
Harvest, 1929
Harvest, 1929 – in the vines

Key dates

1390 – First records of the Annereau family

The Annereau family is one of the oldest recorded in the area. A document written in Gascon and addressed to the Commander of the Temple attests to its presence in Lalande en Poumeyrou as early as 1390.

1598 – The Annereaux manor

1598 is the probable date of construction of the original house, referred to as the "manor" in several legal documents. It was remodelled in the early nineteenth century and again in the twentieth.

Marguerite Annereau married André Malescot. From then on, the estate passed down through the female line, which explains the changes of family name. For more than two centuries, the Malescot family ran the Annereaux and took an active part in the social, political and religious life of the area.

1660 – The Malescot era

1818 – The manor is enlarged

As the family grew and its social life expanded, the manor was improved and extended, and a storey was added to the building.

Suzanne Malescot married Jean Frédéric Soehnée, an industrialist and banker from Landau. His family included Jean Michel, one of the first auditors of the Banque de France, and Charles Frédéric, an artist who created the varnish that bears his name and whose paintings include several held at the Louvre.

1824 – The Soehnée era

Caroline Soehnée, widowed at a young age, took over the estate during the phylloxera crisis. She sided with the "Americanists", who supported grafting, against the "chemists", who favoured carbon disulphide treatments, and led careful scientific trials of grafting and rootstocks that shaped the future of the vineyard.

1873 – The fight against phylloxera

Armand Ponsot, son of Caroline Soehnée, built a new mechanised winery, described at the time as "ultra-modern". Its concrete vats, since renovated, are still in use today.

1911 – A new winery

1912 – The château

The house, originally a manor, was redesigned in the style of an Italian villa, with its pink façade. It has been known as "the château" ever since.

After the hardships of war and years of economic difficulty, frost destroyed a large part of the vineyard. Compensation grants encouraged uprooting, and Charles Rulleau, then the owner, decided to pull up the entire vineyard (35 hectares). Attempts to grow maize on the poor soils failed.

1956 – Difficult years

1961 – The sale that did not happen

A sale was considered. The mayor of Libourne, Robert Boulin, planned to create an agricultural school and wished to acquire the estate for that purpose. Negotiations failed, and the school was eventually built elsewhere.

1969 – The vineyard reborn

Attached to the property, the family looked for a way to revive it. Jean Milhade, winegrower and merchant, bought half of the estate, while Madame Jacques Hessel (Claude Rulleau) kept her share. Replanting began shortly afterwards.

2004 – The family estate reunited

The heirs of Jean Milhade decided to sell their half of the estate. Dominique and Marie-Hélène Hessel bought it back, reuniting the family estate.

2010 – First certified organic vintage

After three years of organic farming, begun in 2007, the 2010 vintage was the first to be certified organic (Ecocert).

2013 – A new generation

Benjamin Hessel, winegrower, son of Dominique and Marie-Hélène, joined the estate for the 2013 harvest.

2014 – A major renovation

The winery, the vat room, the storage areas and the offices were renovated and modernised.

Château des Annereaux was certified B Corp, a certification that assesses a company's social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability.