Château
Chasse-Spleen

Moulis-en-Médoc

Celine Villars - Foubet et Jean-Pierre Foubet

Some people attribute the name of this château to Lord Byron during a trip he made to France, whereas others credit Charles Baudelaire while visiting his artist friend Odilon Redon, a neighbour of Chasse Spleen and illustrator of “Spleen et Idéal”.

The estate has been managed by women for the past thirty years: Jacques Merlaut’s daughter, Bernadette Villars, starting in 1976, followed by her daughter, Claire, beginning in 1992, and now her sister, Céline.

The vineyard is located in Moulis, the smallest appellation in the Médoc, just off the Route des Châteaux, halfway between Margaux and Saint-Julien. Its extraordinarily varied terroir consists of complementary soil types going from pure Garonne and Pyrenean gravel to a mixture of clay and limestone.

Chasse-Spleen reflects this diversity and the best of its appellation thanks to the fresh, mineral qualities of Cabernet Sauvignon grown on a thick layer of gravel and the roundness and smoothness of Merlot planted on largely clay-limestone soil.