Chateau Dompierre

Château Dompierre sits in Saint-Laurent-Médoc, just outside Pauillac in Bordeaux, on ground that faces the Garonne alongside the gravel-rich vineyards that give this stretch of the Médoc its character. Pauillac itself is one of the appellation's most celebrated names, home to eight crus classés — three of them Bordeaux's very highest classification — and known for wines of power, tannin and long ageing potential.

The estate's founder, Michel Aroldi, was born in Libourne in 1959 and learned his craft in Saint-Émilion before spending two decades at Château Plain-Point in Fronsac, where he built his reputation as a serious winemaker. When he sold that domain, he turned to Pauillac, drawn by what he calls the alchemy of terroir — earth, sky and human hand working together — and settled on the Gironde's gravel banks and the late-ripening Cabernet Sauvignon as his foundation.

The range spans the estate's flagship Pauillac bottlings, built almost entirely from Cabernet Sauvignon; La Croix Dompierre, a Haut-Médoc blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot; a Sauvignon Blanc-driven Bordeaux White; and Les Charmes Dompierre, an easy-drinking Vin de France red for earlier, everyday enjoyment.

Drawing on deep winegrowing knowledge and techniques of his own devising, Aroldi crafts wines built for both power and purity, made to age and to reward patience. His bottles have impressed connoisseurs for their combination of strength and finesse, earned a place as the French President's wine of choice for state banquets, and now sit on some of the best tables and in the finest wine institutions around the world.