Aiming High: Haut-Condissas 1997–2015

BY NEAL MARTIN | AUGUST 7, 2018

Bonbons. Enormous bonbons. Gigantic wrapped sweets in the vivid colors of national flags: Brazil, Germany, Switzerland, Japan and of course, France. Each one is mounted on a pedestal and flank the driveway all the way to Rollan-de-By. Has Willie Wonka been here recently? Has he invented confectionary for sweet-toothed giants? This “eye candy” is making me a bit peckish, but you can’t eat chocolate before noon and in any case, I have to meet Jean Guyon for a complete vertical of his micro-cuvée, Haut-Condissas.

Jean Guyon posing in front of one of his “sweets” 

I rarely travel to the far northern reaches of the Médoc. Beyond Calon-Ségur, the Médoc is a mystery...like Narnia...or north Essex. However, Haut-Condissas and its proprietor, Jean Guyon, intrigue me. He is waiting outside, an indefatigable gentleman who exudes energy palpable even before I have even opened the car door. He must be in his fifties or thereabouts, quite athletic for his age, confident and chatty, one of those people you can instantly tell has enjoyed a successful career. “I was an interior decorator,” he informs, revealing his modest beginnings as we enter his house, generously decorated with more modern art. “I attended a design school in Paris and studied carpentry. But my parents always liked wine and food. When I was 20 years old I had no money, but along with three friends we bought lots of bottles...big wines...First Growths when they were cheaper. We tasted them with sandwiches. But I wanted to know if I could make the wines myself. I wanted it to be my wine.”

It is clear that young Jean Guyon was as ambitious as the elder Jean Guyon. Unsurprisingly, that ambition is conferred upon his wines and, in particular, Haut-Condissas. “I bought two hectares in 1990 that formed the basis of Rollan-de-By from an old man who had a five hectare estate. There was just a small cabanne [stone hut]. I bought this property in 1995 when there was nothing here, but I found the same terroir as Saint-Estèphe and so I thought I could make a Grand Vin. Now it is 15 hectares planted at 10,000 vines per hectare.”

Haut-Condissas comes from a choice cut of stony terroir within Rollan-de-By. “It comes from a selection of the best parcels that total approximately 5 hectares,” he explains. “The vines lie on Quaternary gravel with some blue clay.“ He shows me a map of the local area that highlights an impressive diaspora of holdings scattered in the northern Médoc. I ask Guyon about the relatively high proportion of Petit Verdot, since that forms one of the highest percent of plantings on the Left Bank. “A majority is Merlot, 60%, a little Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% each, and 20% Petit Verdot that I like a lot because it is rich and aromatic. If you cut four or five bunches then you can achieve the ripeness. You need a lot of sun. It takes a lot of work in the vineyard. We treat each of the 12 parcels like gardens.”