Château La Fleur de Gay

Château La Fleur de Gay is a separate bottling of selected parcels in the best terroirs belonging to Château La Croix de Gay in Pomerol, and it debuted in the 1982 vintage. The two wines are made by the same estate, but La Fleur de Gay comes from specific sections of vineyard on the Pomerol plateau. The Raynaud-Lebreton family, which owns La Croix de Gay, regards the 1477 grant of eleven tenements in Pomerol by Antoine de Murat, commander of the Hospitallers of Saint John of Jerusalem, as the estate's founding act; by family oral tradition, Mathelin and Michel Barraud, who received the Barrauderis tenement, were its ancestors. A Pomerol parish register entry of 10 May 1772 records Joseph Brugnet as a vigneron at the birth of his daughter Marie, an ancestor of the Raynaud-Lebreton family. Around 1900 Jean-Henri Angle was in charge of the property and developed the Château La Croix de Gay brand. Noël Raynaud (1923-1997) made his first vintage at La Croix de Gay in 1947, and both châteaux were in his ownership. In 1997 his daughter Chantal Raynaud-Lebreton, who had worked with him for more than ten years, took full charge of the property. Chantal Lebreton co-owned the two estates with her brother Alain Raynaud, who had sold his half of the La Croix de Gay domaine by June 2012; at that point La Croix de Gay was to continue, run by Chantal Lebreton and her children, together with La Fleur de Gay.

• 1982: first vintage of La Fleur de Gay, a separate bottling of selected La Croix de Gay parcels.
• 1947: Noël Raynaud's first vintage at La Croix de Gay; 1997: Chantal Raynaud-Lebreton took full charge of the property.
• By June 2012: Alain Raynaud had sold his half of the La Croix de Gay domaine.

The Raynaud-Lebreton family owns Château La Croix de Gay. Chantal Raynaud-Lebreton took full charge of the property in 1997; her three sons, Jean-Pascal, Olivier and Julien, spent their childhood on the property and each holds an agricultural diploma. The estate names Professor Axel Marchal for its oenology; he was consultant on the 2020 and 2021 vintages of La Fleur de Gay. Paul-Marie Morillon is the estate's independent adviser for observation in the vineyard.

• Owner: the Raynaud-Lebreton family.
• Chantal Raynaud-Lebreton took full charge of the property in 1997; her sons are Jean-Pascal, Olivier and Julien.
• Oenology: Professor Axel Marchal, consultant on the 2020 and 2021 vintages. Independent adviser: Paul-Marie Morillon.

The La Croix de Gay vineyard and working buildings are clustered around the hamlet of Pignon, a small village on the north côte of Pomerol where pure clay and coarse Günz gravels, distinctive of the appellation's upper terrace, meet on a gentle slope. The soils are old reddened gravels over a subsoil of blue clay veined with red iron oxides, and the site has a north-facing exposure. La Fleur de Gay comes from specific sections of vineyard on the Pomerol plateau. In 2012 Wine Spectator put La Fleur de Gay at 5 acres, and Decanter's review of the 2019 vintage refers to a 2ha estate with a low yield of 23hl/ha.

• Hamlet of Pignon, north côte of Pomerol: pure clay and coarse Günz gravels on a gentle slope.
• Old reddened gravels over blue clay veined with red iron oxides.
• La Fleur de Gay comes from specific sections of vineyard on the Pomerol plateau.

The family's vineyard soils have always been worked mechanically or grassed, without any synthetic products. The ecological balance allows the estate to use no insecticide; grape moth is controlled by mating disruption, and mildew and oidium treatments are limited to those that observation shows are necessary. Grapes are picked by hand into crates and sorted in the vineyard and in the vat room before and after destemming, and the vats are filled by gravity after a light crushing. In 2011 Wine Spectator characterised La Fleur de Gay as 100 percent Merlot matured in 100 percent new oak; Decanter's reviews of recent vintages list Cabernet Franc in the blend, at 11% with 89% Merlot in 2019 and 2023 and at 5% with 95% Merlot in 2021. The 2021 Merlot was picked on 28 September and the Cabernet Franc on 1 October, and the wine was aged in 65% new oak and 35% one-year-old barrels; the 2023 was aged with 50% new oak.

• Soils worked mechanically or grassed; no synthetic products and no insecticide.
• Hand harvest in crates; sorting in the vineyard and the vat room; vats filled by gravity.
• 2021: 95% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc, aged in 65% new oak and 35% one-year-old barrels.
• 2023: 89% Merlot and 11% Cabernet Franc, aged with 50% new oak; about 6,000 bottles produced.

Wine Spectator's original blind-tasting reviews rated the 1986 at 95 points, the 1988 at 93 and the 1990 at 96. Revisiting the three vintages non-blind in May 2011, Wine Spectator's Thomas Matthews rated the 1986 at 96 points, the 1990 at 94 and the 1988 at 93, and wrote that, based on the magazine's reviews, the wine's best vintages came in its first decade. Decanter's review of the 2019 calls it 'an excellent wine that has balance and fresh menthol notes running right through it.'

Wine Spectator's Thomas Matthews found that the 1986, 1988 and 1990 'showed typical Pomerol character, generous yet refined.' Decanter's review of the 2020 calls it 'seductive and silky and totally delicious', and its review of the 2023 says: 'I like the opulent palate, thanks to old-vine Merlots grown from vines on cool clays, revealing both floral freshness and juicy plum.'

Primary sources (the producer's own site, Château La Croix de Gay): https://www.chateau-la-croix-de-gay.fr/, https://www.chateau-la-croix-de-gay.fr/une-famille/, https://www.chateau-la-croix-de-gay.fr/un-terroir/, https://www.chateau-la-croix-de-gay.fr/savoir-faire/, https://www.chateau-la-croix-de-gay.fr/un-chai/. Secondary sources: Wine Spectator (Thomas Matthews, May 16, 2011; Suzanne Mustacich, Jun 28, 2012), Decanter (Jane Anson, last updated 28 May 2015; wine reviews of the 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2023 vintages) and Winedoctor (Château La Fleur de Gay and Château La Croix de Gay profiles). Last verified 2026-10-14. Where the producer's site and a secondary source disagree, the producer's site governs.