“Coming to Castillon is the closest thing to visiting Bordeaux thirty years ago,” Catherine Papon-Nouvel tells me on a visit to her 80-year-old vines at Château Peyrou. She purchased the property in 1989. At the time, the land just across the road was ten times the price. In fact, a lot has changed in those 30 years since she crossed the road from St-Emilion.
By the turn of the 21st century, a number of legendary St-Emilion growers had purchased properties in Castillon, their Côtes de Bordeaux neighbor to the east, including Stephan von Neipperg of Canon-La-Gaffelière, Stéphane Derenoncourt, the longtime consultant for Pavie-Macquin and many other properties, and Thierry Valette, whose family owned Pavie from 1943 until 1998. These growers bought land on the limestone plateau, believing it to be an extension of the formation locals had quarried to build the church, the town, the famous châteaus and the reputation of St-Emilion wines. The sudden demand for land in Castillon sent the average price of a hectare north of 50,000 euros (about $23,270 an acre).