History

The history of Château Coutet as a winemaking estate starts in 1643, when Charles Le Guérin, known as Lord of Coutet, made it one of the first vineyards in the Sauternes appellation. The estate remained in the hands of his descendants until 1788.

Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States of America, lived in France for a number of years, serving as ambassador there from 1785 to 1789. A true gourmet, he was also a wine merchant and wrote travel diaries from great French wine-producing regions. A man of good sense, he acknowledged Château Coutet as "the best Sauternes in Barsac."

Gabriel-Barthelemy Romain de Filhot acquired Château Coutet just before the French Revolution. After those troubled times, the estate passed to his grandson, Marquis Romain-Bertrand de Lur-Saluces. Also the owner of Châteaux d'Yquem, de Fargues, Filhot and de Malle, he was the largest producer of sweet white wine in the world at the time. Château Coutet remained in the family until the 1920s.

Following a number of informal rankings, the 1855 classification ordered by Napoleon III was issued for the Universal Exposition. It officially recognised Château Coutet as one of the Classified First Growths of the Sauternes and Barsac appellations, alongside the finest wines from the Médoc and Graves regions.

Henry-Louis Guy, an industrialist from Lyon, acquired Château Coutet in the 1920s. The famous and unrivalled Guy & Mittal hydraulic presses, still in use, stand as a memento of his time there, holding the secret to the extraction of juice from the estate’s best grapes. His daughter, with her second husband, Edmond Rolland, managed the estate until 1977. The tradition of an exceptional wine in her honour, the Cuvée Madame, persists to this day.

Marcel Baly and two of his sons, Philippe and Dominique, became the new owners of Château Coutet in 1977. Originally from Alsace, the family subsequently expanded overseas, especially in the United States. With zeal and determination, they set about the task of renewing the vineyard and the winery buildings.

In 1994, the brothers sought greater expertise for Château Coutet. They signed an agreement with the company Baron Philippe de Rothschild, granting exclusive distribution rights. This commercial, as well as technical, collaboration has helped the reputation of the estate’s wines worldwide.

The 2010 vintage marks the creation of Château Coutet’s Cuvée Opalie, a new endeavor for the Baly family with a fine dry white wine crafted with the same high standards as Château Coutet. Beginning with the 2024 vintage, the Cuvée Opalie is adorned with a silver version of the signature label of the sweet First Growth, celebrating its fifteenth vintage and its connection to the latter, as well as the great terroirs of Barsac from which both wines originate.