Jean Guyon Buys Château Greysac

A top producer of cru bourgeois wines buys one of Bordeaux's most recognized value labels

James Molesworth
Posted: October 11, 2012

Jean Guyon, who owns several notable cru bourgeois wineries in Bordeaux, has bought Château Greysac, perhaps the best-known cru bourgeois estate. Greysac will become part of Guyon's company Domaines Rollan de By. The purchase price was not disclosed.

The sale includes 296 acres of vineyards on three separate estates—châteaus Greysac, Le Monthil and By—that produce the wine for the Greysac label. A European-based corporate partnership has owned Greysac since the 1970s and has sent a significant portion of its 50,000 annual case production to the U.S. market for many years. The 2009 vintage of Château Greysac earned 89 points on Wine Spectator's 100-point scale; the wine typically retails for under $25 per bottle.

Jean Guyon was working as an interior designer in Paris when he caught the wine bug, buying a modest 5 acres of vines in 1989. Since then he has assembled a noteworthy portfolio of cru bourgeois estates, totaling 234 acres of vines, all located in the upper Médoc around the town of Bégadan. The group includes the flagship Château Rollan de By, along with Château La Clare, Château Tour Seran and Château Haut Condissas. (First classified in 1932 and recently revised, the cru bourgeois estates are 260 Médoc properties historically known for decent quality and lower prices than those in the famous 1855 classification.)

With the purchase of Greysac, whose vineyards border Château Rollan de By, Guyon's company now produces 1 million bottles annually. Guyon has worked with consulting enologist Alain Reynaud since the 2005 vintage.