Vineyards & Viticulture
The Gilette vineyard is just over 4.5 hectares in the center of the village of Preignac, with vines planted back in 1930. The walled vineyard protects the grapes and allows for botrytis. No plots are pulled up and no vines replaced unless one-by-one, as the old plants die out. The oldest vines are almost all Sémillon and planted in the 1930s.

Soils
Gravel, sand, rock, limestone and clay

Harvest & Vinification
The grapes are pressed very gently, and the must goes straight into stainless steel vats where it is stored, without oxygenation, for 15 to 18 years. Then wine is bottled and held in the cellar for another three to five years before release. No oak casks or barrels are used for either fermentation or maturation. The wines are never chaptalized. In years when Château Gilette is not made, the grapes are sold off in bulk. Yields are minuscule and total production is around 5000 bottles a year.