Château Balac

A family estate

Located just a few kilometers from Pauillac and its Grands Crus Classés, Château Balac is a family-owned wine estate that has endured for three generations. Established since 1964 on 20 hectares of Haut-Médoc vines, the Touchais family strives to produce a wine as characterful as it is elegant.

Since 2005, Lionel Touchais, grandson of the winegrower Joseph Touchais who revived the estate in 1964, has been carrying on the beautiful family story that has been in place for four decades. After having traveled the world for more than 10 years as a winemaker, he takes up the family torch to continue to develop the terroir of Château Balac.

Since 2020 and the new classification of the Crus Bourgeois du Médoc, the estate has been recognized Cru Bourgeois Supérieur, as a reward for the family's hard work for three generations. 

The terroir, composed of clay-limestone, sandy-silt and gravel soils is home to vines mainly of Merlot (60%) but also of Cabernet Sauvignon (25%), Petit Verdot (10%) and Cabernet Franc.

A committed property

Since 2019, the vineyard has begun an organic conversion. It is indeed aware of the environmental issues and is concerned about evolving and improving its way of working the vineyard. The estate has thus received the High Environmental Value label in 2019.

In addition, to meet even better customer expectations, the estate has created a new Balac cuvée without added sulfites, a 100% Natural Merlot wine for new sensations in the glass.

In terms of viticulture, the fertilizers used are 100% natural (compost and manure), the fertilization of the soil is done with bacteria, grassing is done between the rows to protect the soil and the vines and weeding is mechanical. The harvest is naturally 100% manual.

Winemaking with both technicality and tradition

The estate's small, charm-filled winery is in the care of Joseph Touchais, a trained oenologist. 

The winemaking process seeks to preserve the fruit while developing supple and elegant tannins. The latter is therefore adapted each year according to the characteristics of the vintage. 

The chateau uses a pumping-over technique, which consists of pumping the grape must back over the tannin layer to encourage its extraction from the grape skins.

The wines are aged in French oak barrels for twelve months. About a quarter of the barrels are renewed each year to optimize the aging of the wines and the contribution of the tannins (a young barrel will transmit more tannins).

Fruity and elegance

Château Balac produces two red wines bottled at the property. 

The first, the Château Balac Cru Bourgeois Supérieur, develops fruity notes with supple and melted tannins. 

The second, the Balac Reserve, offers a powerful structure with elegant tannins. A few years of aging will allow it to reveal all its power.