History
Located in the Gironde, the expansive residence of the Hostens-Picant family has a charm that is impossible to resist. It is here – nestled between 42 hectares of rolling fields – that the family has “built” their vineyard over the years. For the ninety years prior to its purchase in 1986, the estate had remained property of the same family. The story of the grounds, however, goes back considerably further, to just seven years after the end of the Hundred Years War. The first occupants are attested from 1460, when the property bore the name Château des Granges. At the start of the XIXth century it was renamed Château de Grangeneuve, an appellation that would remain until ownership of the estate again shifted hands. In 1990, Yves gave the estate the name Château Hostens-Picant in homage to his family's lineage. In five centuries, the estate knew but four families; Yves and Nadine being the fourth.
Nadine and Yves were first struck by the magic of the grounds in 1986, when they happened across the estate located 24 km east of St Emilion. At the time only 19 hectares of the property were used for vineyards; of these, certain swaths were but partially-cultivated. Initially bound by a contract with the UNIVITIS cooperative, for three years Nadine and Yves conducted different vinification tests before finally settling on construction of a vinification and aging cellar. Their first wines were created in 1990.
The two had only to “listen” to understand that there on that parcel of the bordelais countryside – forgotten by critics and wine-lovers alike – the possibility of making truly great wines existed. Nadine and Yves Hostens-Picant have given new life to this place that seemed to have awaited them for years.