Chateau Haut-Brion is the only First Growth Chateau of the 1855 Bordeaux Classification located outside the Medoc AOC. It finds its home in the Pessac-Leognan AOC north of the Graves region. First documentation of the estate dates back to 1525 when the property came to Jean de Pontac through his new wife's dowry. After a series of different owners, the estate was purchased by Clarence Dillon, an American banker in 1935. Remarkably, it still remains in the Dillon family today. A curious departure from its counterparts in the Medoc AOC, Chateau Haut Brion is Merlot focused. Of the 48 hectares under vine, almost 42% are planted to Merlot, 45% to Cabernet Sauvignon and the remainder to Cabernet Franc. The dissimilarities continue in the fact that Haut Brion also produces one of the world's most esteemed white wines, Haut Brion Blanc, a blend of Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc.Each variety is planted to its best-suited soil type resulting in Cabernet Sauvignon on gravel and Merlot on clay, while the white varieties thrive on the sandier soils of the estate.
