This fantastic little chateau is based in the small region of Fronsac, which is just to the north west of St Emilion. Thierry Gaudrie is the owner and winemaker, and his family have owned the chateau for almost 200 years. Their oldest and best 20 hectares of vineyards, planted on clay and limestone soils, are reserved for the production of their flagship “Chateau Villars” Red each year.

The wine is generally a blend of around 80% Merlot, with the rest mainly Cabernet Franc and a small amount of Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine is matured for around 12 months in French oak barrels, of which one third are new each year. Between 60-80,000 bts are produced each vintage.

The Chateau Villars red always has excellent freshness and elegance, due to the important water-retention capacity of their clay soils, very ripe, plush red fruit flavours, and impressive structure and complexity for its price; it can age 10 to 20 years in a good vintage.