Château Le Gay

Winedoctor's profile of the property notes that the exact origins of Château Le Gay, including who planted the first vines, are not known. According to the estate, the Robin sisters, Thérèse and Marie Robin, owned Château Le Gay for sixty years, and the estate's history page records their father's motto as "Qualité passe quantité". Catherine Péré-Vergé took over the property in 2002; Wine Spectator reported in September 2002 that she had signed an option to buy Le Gay in late August of that year. The same Wine Spectator report said Christian Moueix had made the wine at Le Gay for several years, an arrangement due to end once a new owner took over. Henri Parent, Catherine's son, then took charge of the estate, and the estate dates a new round of works to 2013.

• Owned for sixty years by the Robin sisters, Thérèse and Marie Robin, per the estate's history page
• Catherine Péré-Vergé took over the estate in 2002 and began a complete renovation of the property
• Wine Spectator (September 2002): Christian Moueix had made the wine at Le Gay for several years, an arrangement set to end with a new owner
• Henri Parent, son of Catherine Péré-Vergé, took charge of the estate; new works began in 2013

As of September 2026, the estate's site presents Henri Parent, son of Catherine Péré-Vergé, as the family member who took charge of Château Le Gay, and his name appears on the estate's page for the cuvée La Dame de Pomerol. The same page names Orion as the estate's cooper. The estate's owner group, Vignobles Parent, lists Château Le Gay alongside Château Montviel and La Violette as its properties, per the group's own site.

• Henri Parent, son of Catherine Péré-Vergé: in charge of the estate (as of September 2026, per the estate's site)
• Orion: named on the estate's site as its cooper
• Owner group Vignobles Parent lists Château Le Gay, Château Montviel and La Violette as its properties, per the group's site

The estate's technical sheet gives the vineyard as 12 hectares of clay-gravel soil situated on the Pomerol plateau in a single block, planted to 95% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc, with the age of the vines given as 25 years. When Catherine Péré-Vergé took over in 2002 she planted 4 hectares of parcels that had been left unplanted. Winedoctor places the château and its vineyards at the northern end of the appellation, on the Chemin de Chantecaille, and describes Le Gay as one of the estates on the periphery of the Pomerol plateau, where the gravel and clay give way to sandier slopes running down to the Barbanne. In the vineyard, the technical sheet describes careful separation of the bunches in July, evening out of ripeness at mid-véraison with bunch removal if needed, light leaf removal on one side of the row and then the other, and hand harvesting in 2 passes in early September to separate out millerandé bunches.

• 12 hectares, clay-gravel soil, on the Pomerol plateau in a single block (estate technical sheet)
• 95% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc; age of the vines given as 25 years
• 4 hectares of previously unplanted parcels planted after the 2002 takeover
• Located at the northern end of the appellation on the Chemin de Chantecaille, per Winedoctor
• Hand harvest in 2 passes in early September to separate millerandé bunches

After the 2002 takeover the estate built a new vat room and barrel cellar and restored the house, designing the cellar around gravity to avoid pumping and handling. The works begun in 2013 under Henri Parent aimed to vinify the first wine of Château Le Gay entirely in barrel, a method the estate calls Vinification Intégrale. The cellar is divided into 3 vinification rooms temperature-controlled by the ambient air. According to the technical sheet, the grapes undergo a pre-fermentation maceration at 6° for 12 days, the alcoholic and malolactic fermentations take place directly in new barrels, and the wine is then aged for 12 to 16 months in the barrels already used during vinification. Only the second wine, Manoir de Gay, is vinified conventionally, in temperature-controlled concrete vats, also with a cold pre-fermentation phase.

• New vat room and barrel cellar built after 2002; gravity used to avoid pumping
• Since the 2013 works, the first wine is vinified entirely in barrel (Vinification Intégrale)
• 3 vinification rooms temperature-controlled by the ambient air
• Pre-fermentation maceration at 6° for 12 days; alcoholic and malolactic fermentations in new barrels
• Élevage of 12 to 16 months in the barrels used for vinification
• Manoir de Gay is vinified in temperature-controlled concrete vats

The estate's technical sheet lists production of 28,000 bottles of Château Le Gay, the grand vin, and 20,000 bottles of the second wine, Manoir de Gay. The estate also makes La Dame de Pomerol, a cuvée it describes as an homage to Catherine Péré-Vergé. For this cuvée the grapes are destemmed meticulously by hand, and all the barrels come from the heart of a 300-year-old tree from the Tronçais forest, parcel 48 of the Canton du Poteau.

• Château Le Gay: the grand vin, 28,000 bottles
• Manoir de Gay: the second wine, 20,000 bottles
• La Dame de Pomerol: cuvée in homage to Catherine Péré-Vergé, hand-destemmed, with all its barrels from the heart of a single 300-year-old tree from the Tronçais forest

In its own words, the estate says everything in the renovated cellar was designed to ensure gentle handling of the grapes and the wine, using gravity to avoid pumping and manipulation. The estate says its long cold pre-fermentation macerations extract the tannins over several days, and that for Manoir de Gay the cold phase serves to extract the fruit as slowly as possible to avoid over-extraction.

• The estate describes its aim as gentle handling of grapes and wine, by gravity
• The estate says it seeks to extract fruit as slowly as possible to avoid over-extraction

Primary sources (producer's own site): https://chateaulegay.com/notre-histoire/, https://chateaulegay.com/fiche-technique/, https://chateaulegay.com/la-dame-de-pomerol-1-555/. Owner group's site (R10): https://vignoblesparent.com/. Secondary sources: https://www.thewinedoctor.com/bordeaux/legay.shtml, https://www.winespectator.com/articles/chateau-le-gay-in-pomerol-to-be-sold-21395, https://www.thewinedoctor.com/bordeaux/legay_3.shtml. Last verified 2026-09-24. Where the producer's site and a secondary source disagree, the producer's site governs.