Château Coutet.

However no information can be found about these early days and there is no explanation of the origin of the name and no knowledge of the early owners.

The first known owner of Chateau Coutet is Charles de Guérin, who purchased the estate in 1643.  Ch. Coutet was then sold to Jean de Pichard in 1695 and in 1788 the owner was Gabriel Barthélémy-Romain de Filhot, who also owned Doisy-Daëne.

This explains the similarity of the Chateau Coutet and Filhot labels.

De Filhot and his wife were both guillotined during the revolution in the late seventeen hundreds.  The estate was subdivided and sold on auction by the new state.

A turbulent and poorly documented time followed in the wake of the revolution.

In the beginning of the eighteen hundreds the estate was in the ownership of Marie-Geneviéve de Filhot.  In 1807 she married Antoine-Marie de Lur-Saluces of Chateau d’Yquem.  The new family thus owned Yquem, Coutet, Fargues, de Malle and chateau Piada.  The Lur-Saluces family was in control until 1922.Production had at this stage fallen drastically, possibly due to grape phylloxera attacks and other difficulties common in Sauternes at that time.  Chateau Coutet was sold to Société Immobiliére des Grands Crus, who in turn sold the estate on to Thomas and Edmond Rolland.

These two managed the estate and not without a measure of success until 1977, when it was sold to the current owner, the Baly family.

Marcel Baly was in charge of the estate and he has since handed over the control to his sons Dominique and Philippe.

The farmed area is 38 hectares. The soil is a mix of gravel and red clay on a lime foundation.  About 50% of the harvest is normally fulfilling the requirements to be marketed as grand vin Chateau Coutet.  The remainder is sold as Chartreuse de Coutet.

The wine is produced from a mix of three Sauternes types of grapes.

75% Semillon, 23% Sauvignon and 2% Muscadelle are fermented in temperature controlled  vats.  Following the fermentation, the wine is left to mature for up to 16 months in vats of which 50% are replaced each year.