Saint-Emilion Grand Cru Classe Chateau Grand Corbin has been purchased by SMABTP, the French insurance group, according to the Sud Ouest newspaper. SMABTP already own Chateau Haut Corbin and Le Jurat in Saint-Emilion as well as the Haut-Medoc fifth growth, Chateau Cantemerle.
Chateau Grand Corbin used to be part of the estate belonging to the Black Prince, Edward, Prince of Wales, the son of king Edward III of England. It was purchased by Alain Giraud in 1960 and, after his death in 1982, passed to his family, with the management of the property undertaken by Philippe Giraud. There are 15 hectares of vines planted with 69% Merlot, 26% Cabernet Franc and 6% Cabernet Sauvignon on sandy soils over a subsoil of ferric clay. A modern vat room was built in 2002, with stainless steel vats and a system of small mobile tanks that avoid the need for pumping during the vinification process.
SMABTP is a mutual insurance company in the building and civil engineering sector and was one of the first insurance companies to invest in a cru classe estate, having since been followed by the civil service insurer GMF (Beychevelle) and AXA (Pichon-Longueville, Suduiraut, Petit-Village).