Château Haut Beyzac

Emmanuelle ("Manu") Raguenot is the daughter of Philippe and Lise Raguenot, winegrowers in the Côtes de Blaye, a minor Bordeaux district. After a couple of years of English courses at the University, she decided that she wanted to visit the U.S. and work in the wine business. Friends of her parents knew people at the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, and over the objections of her parents and her boyfriend, arrangements were made for a one year job, starting in September, 1994.

Ten years later, her parents are delighted that she went; her ex-boyfriend is not. While in the U.S., Manu met Daren Miller, a pure-bred, corn-fed, all-American farm boy working at Naylor, one of Pennsylvania's commercial wineries. Her parents didn't lose a daughter, they gained an American son who moved to Bordeaux with his bride in May, 1996.

One can't simply plant a new vineyard in France, as the European Union regulates plantings in an effort to stem overproduction. Rights to plant are expensive and are bought, sold and traded like commodities. However there are exemptions for "jeunes agriculteurs" - young farmers. Emmanuel and Daren, her sister Marie-Pierre and her sister's husband Eric Lallez applied for and were granted such an exemption. They tackled a huge project - the replanting of 60 acres in the Haut-Médoc. The vineyard is in Vertheuil, bordering the famous village of Saint-Estèphe, and like much of Saint-Estèphe, soils are clay and limestone-based, with some of the gravel for which the Médoc is more generally known. 30 acres are planted to Cabernet Sauvignon, 24 to Merlot and 6 to Petit Verdot. The Cabernet and Petit Verdot are on the parcels with limestone and some gravel, the Merlot on red, iron-bearing clay.

Many top estates pride themselves on their severe selections for their top bottling, sometimes as little as 50%. At Haut Beyzac, the situation is the opposite. With total production of 9,000 cases from a new vineyard, a base of reasonably priced, entry-level wine is crucial to sales. The "Grand Vin" at Haut Beyzac accounts for barely 10% of the production!

So far, sales for Haut Beyzac are good and the wines are winning medals in Bordeaux competitions and gaining notoriety in the US press. There is a lifetime of hard work ahead for all of them, but the talent, brains and energy are there in abundance. They will succeed.