The Château Barateau vineyard existed in the 18th century. Abbot Barateau, priest of Saint-Laurent, came in 1820 to bless the first stone of this winemaking estate. The owners of the time took the blessing to the extreme, giving their château the churchman's name. The service of wine has remained its only creed over the years. The vineyard, planted on a good chalky-clay south-facing hilltop, is on the road to Saint-Julien. This nicely structured wine attracts the attention of all enthusiasts. Its straightforward aromas, fully blending after five years, make it one of the good Saint-Laurent crus.
 This cru, with a regular quality over several years that is often cited as an example of the likeable products of Haut-Médoc, can display an impressive list of medals, including four gold ones from the Aquitaine regional wine competition.
The spectacular recovery of Château Barateau is the work of the Leroy family. To diversify their activities, they decided to invest in wine-growing in 1987. And if the new owners spent a great deal on modernising and rebuilding the estate, they got their reward a few years later, joining the leading producers in the "appelation".
Château Barateau is on side of a hill, providing it with plenty of sun, at a crossroads of the road linking Saint-Julien to Saint-Laurent, after Châteaux Lagrange and the Tour Carnet, and the national highway linking Bordeaux to Pointe de Graves.
A second piece of land on the Saint-Sauveur plateau, near Parillac, was bought in 1989.
Area: 24 hectares (12 hectares in Saint-Laurent and 12 hectares in Saint-Sauveur), Grape varieties: 48.3 % Cabernet Sauvignon, 2% Cabernet Franc, 47.8% Merlot, 1.9 % Petit Verdot. Average age of vines: 24, Soil: Chalky clay in Saint-Laurent and gravelly sand in Saint-Sauveur.
Pruning: Guyot double and Cordon de Royal
Planting density: 6,500 and 8,000 vines to the hectare
Care of the vineyard: working the soil, weeding / manual removal of side shoots / excess leaf removal / disbudding / partial green harvest.
Harvest: Largely mechanised with picking table at the point where the harvest is brought in.
An average of 160,000 bottles a year.
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