Château Blaignan is a fine estate of 97 hectares (240 acres) in the northern part of the Médoc. There have been vineyards here since the 14th century. There was nothing left of the ancient fortress (seat of the Lords of Blaignan in the Middle-Ages, which gave its name both to the land and to the noble family who owned the manor), except for a few ruins next to the church in the old village of Blaignan.
Pierre Merman, a protestant from a Dutch family that settled in Bordeaux in the 17th century, acquired the estate just after the Revolution. His family and, more particularly, his daughter, Jeanne Marie Reine Peychaud, assisted by her husband Charles, turned “Taffard-Blaignan” into a model estate. They extended the property considerably, repaired the buildings and built a country mansion of the type known locally as a “chartreuse”.
The wine reached the envied rank of Cru Bourgeois in 1932, under the name “Château Taffard de Blaignan”. In 2004, CA Grands Crus, a subsidiary of the Groupe Crédit Agricole, acquired Château Blaignan. An improvement plan was put together for the entire estate. It is supervised today by Anne Le Naour, the Technical Director, Jean-Jacques Lapeyre, the Estate Director and the consultant oenologist, Hubert de Bouärd.