Located on the right bank of the Gironde, Pérenne is an elegantly crafted property which transports the viewer to a beautiful and timeless reality.
The 130 hectares estate is well known for its famous previous owners.
Today with its new owners, Pérenne is a project of evolution.
The remnants of the old aesthetics are getting rekindled with a touch of the new sustainable, perennial lifestyle.
Until the French Revolution, the monks of Saint-Romain de Blaye Abbey lived in a community of Saint Genès, where winegrowing was an important source of income to fund the order.
The estate of Saint Genes was sold to the Irish O'Lanye family, who succeeded in making it one of the best known wines in the region.
The estate became in the possession of successors, a certain Pierre Arnaud, according to the cadastral matrices.
The wine estate was one of the four wineries mentioned as Cru Bourgeois wine No. 1 in the “Cocks et Féret”, considered the bible for Bordeaux wines. The wine estate was producing 130 to 160 barrels.
The actual château was built in 1870 by the Arnaud family, designed by Violet le Duc’s disciple, architect Gustav Alaux.
The estate's production peaked after the phylloxera crisis at 250, or even 300 barrels at the end of the 19th century. Maintaining the estate earned Camille Arnaud and his manager the reward of a large module gold medal, awarded by the Société d'agriculture de la Gironde.
The castle was acquired from the Arnaud heirs by the count of Danish origin Ejnar Oberbeck-Clausen, husband of the countess Marie Henriette Chenu-Lafitte, also owner of Château Mille-Secousses in Bourg, who enlarged the vineyard in the first decades of the Twentieth century.
Bernard Magrez, who is best known for owning Château Pape Clément in Pessac Leognan, as well as numerous other estates all over the world, purchased the estate in 1997. Since then, the distinguished Michel Rolland has advised Château Pérenne on winemaking and vineyard management.
The vineyard of Château Pérenne was used as the grape source for Château Confiance, which is produced in partnership with the well-known French actor, Gerard Depardieu. The vines come from a plot selection of less than 2 hectares among the old vines of Château Pérenne. At the same time the property debuted La Croix de Pérenne under the direction of Magrez, a premium Cuvée.
Entrepreneur Jack Ma has purchased Château Pérenne.
