Château Coufran

The purchase of Château COUFRAN dates from 1924 thanks to the reparation of damages from the 1st World War awarded to the family of Mrs Louis Miailhe. At that time, the members of the Miailhe family were known as wine brokers. The first to embrace the profession was Elie, appointed as Royal Broker in 1793 by letters patent (records of the County library).

It was not until 1818 that the brokerage firm of the same name was founded (family records). It has since been carried on without a break by successive generations. Jean Miailhe was the last in line to earn his living from the business until he retired in 1970. The first member of the Miailhe family to become a grower, in the middle of the 19th century, was Frédéric (Château Siran) as the result of a stroke of fate in his private life, namely his marriage.

Later, during the major wine-growing crises between the 1920's and the 1950's, his two sons, Louis and Edouard, complemented their business as brokers by investing in other Médoc vineyards. Since the recent sale of Pichon Comtesse by May Eliane de Lencquesaing (Edouard's daughter), the last grower in that family branch is her brother Alain’s son, Edouard Miailhe, at Château Siran. As for the descendants of Louis, only his son, Jean, has remained in wine-growing at Coufran and subsequently at Verdignan.

In the 1980's, his two children, Marie-Cécile Vicaire and Eric Miailhe, took up the reins.

The vines of Château Coufran are planted in 76 hectares of excellent gravely soil situated in Saint-Seurin-de-Cadourne, a town near Saint-Estèphe in the district of Pauillac, in the HAUT-MEDOC appellation. Saint-Seurin-de-Cadourne draws maximum benefit from the nearby estuary of the Gironde and of the Atlantic.

The vineyard is planted with 85% of Merlot grapes and 15% of Cabernet-Sauvignon grapes. On average, the vines are 40 years old.

Grassing between the rows, leaf removal after flowering and crop thinning enable the grapes to ripen in the best possible conditions. Harvesting is performed " à la carte ", always starting with the Merlot grapes and then the later ripening Cabernets. It is a period which calls for painstaking, detailed attention to be sure of optimising the quality of the grapes by enhancing the different quality nuances of each grape variety (terroir and age of the vines) and to determine the percentage to be eventually drawn off on vatting.

Vinification follows the traditional Bordeaux method in temperature-controlled stainless steel vats. Work in the vat-room (pumping over, stirring, racking) and the length of maceration are determined according to the characteristics of each vintage and above all to the style of wine sought. Upon completion of the alcoholic and malo-lactic fermentations, several tastings are held in December before the final assembly of the premium wine with our consultants, Jacques and Eric BOISSENOT. Only two thirds of the production will be kept for the premium wine so as to give the best possible expression to the unusual combination of grape varieties at Coufran and to produce a great wine which will be among the very best in our appellation.

The wine is aged in barrels for 12 months, with 25% of new barrels each year, mainly in French oak. When the spring of the second year comes round, after fining a final blend is made to ensure that the premium wine to be bottled is perfectly homogenous. We use natural corks, extra heavy bottles, bottling according to the HACCP standard and since the 2005 vintage each bottle is engraved with a batch number. The bottles are then stored in an air-conditioned cellar to optimise their ageing and to enable us to offer our customers perfectly kept wines ready for their drinking pleasure.