Vinocity in partnership with The City of Wine
Discovering the Arsac Castle
Guests
Philippe Raoux
Florence Maffrand
Coming from a family of winegrowers and merchants, Philippe Raoux bought Château d’Arsac in 1986. At the time, it was a ruin on a plot of 250 hectares. There are only 3 hectares of vines left. More than 30 years later, it is an estate which produces 5 wines and which offers an extraordinary artistic experience between sculptures and oeno-musical spectacle. We invite you to discover this story in Vinocity
Wines
The Arsac estate extends over 108 hectares of vines, including 54 in the Margaux appellation, 50 in the Haut-Médoc appellation and 4 in the Bordeaux blanc sauvignon appellation on a property of 250 hectares. It benefits from a favorable soil: a sandy-gravelly hilltop mixed with a fairly thin layer of clay.
Art
The Château d’Arsac is also a place open to artistic creation. Every year since 1992, the estate has acquired a signed work by a major contemporary artist. Thus over time, the castle today brings together an impressive collection of works of art known as the “Garden of Sculptures”. The vine and art are intimately linked here. It is indeed the first which finances the annual acquisition of a work of art and in exchange, it is indeed art which gives the property its original personality as exclusive making it one of the places the most visited in the Médoc.
“If Arsac was sung to me”
In one of the oldest properties in the Médoc, between rows of vines and monumental sculptures, the owner, Philippe Raoux, had the idea of making the history of this exceptional property an immersive story.
“If Arsac was sung to me” is a one-of-a-kind wine-music tour. For the first time in the Bordeaux vineyards, we have designed a real artistic and sensory experience in the form of an audiovisual show.
The music composed by François and Muriel Gaulon in spoken and sung form offers visitors the opportunity to discover the history of the property since its acquisition in 1986, its transformation with the replanting of the vineyard and the installation of its works of art, but
also the production of its exceptional wines. The sound and light staging in the vat room and the barrel cellar is carried out by Pierre Fossey. It transports the visitor into the history of the property between archive images and works of art.
The visit ends with a tasting of Château d’Arsac classified Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel in the Margaux appellation in the barrel cellar.
Are you ready to succumb to this unique musical adventure?