Our Story
Château Maine Gazin is a family-owned, certified organic wine estate in Plassac, overlooking the Gironde estuary in the Blaye Côtes de Bordeaux appellation. Australians Geoff and Marion Cook bought the run-down property in 2015, replanted its 6.2 hectares of Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot from 2016, and hand-harvested their first vintage in 2018. Today the wines are available in Australia, shipped from local stock.
It started as a conversation. It became a vineyard, a restored château and a second home on the other side of the world.
Why did two Australians buy a vineyard in Bordeaux?
After decades in business, farming and wine in Western Australia — including helping develop a large vineyard supplying Margaret River wineries — the Cooks went looking for a smaller estate of their own. In 2015 they found Château Maine Gazin: a neglected property on a limestone-clay slope above the Gironde, directly across the water from Margaux.
The view was extraordinary. The work ahead was daunting. Neither changed the decision.
A working vineyard, not a postcard
The château dates from the 1850s, and when the Cooks arrived it needed almost everything: power, plumbing and utilities were rebuilt, and the vineyard had to be replanted from the ground up.
This was never a lifestyle purchase. It was a working farm that needed real decisions — and those early choices shape every bottle we make today.
Learning Bordeaux
Bordeaux is one of the most respected and tightly regulated wine regions in the world. Becoming part of it meant learning — from neighbours, from local winemakers and from generations of knowledge already rooted here.
The support of neighbouring growers and winemaking families turned uncertainty into understanding. The vineyard became a classroom. The region became a community.
Why Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot?
Replanting let the Cooks choose deliberately. Merlot makes up about 60% of the vineyard, as it does across Bordeaux's Right Bank, with Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot making up the rest. The idea was to borrow a little of Pomerol's generosity and a little of Margaux's refinement while staying true to the site. The vines are planted at about 6,000 per hectare, and irrigation isn't permitted in Bordeaux, so roots go deep and each vintage unfolds on its own terms.
Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot are usually supporting players in Bordeaux. Here they also get the chance to stand on their own — which is why we bottle a single-variety Petit Verdot.
Is Château Maine Gazin organic?
Yes. Organic farming began in 2019, and after the three-year conversion the estate has been certified organic by Ecocert. No synthetic herbicides or pesticides are used: weeds are managed by working the soil, and cover crops between the rows build soil health and biodiversity.
It is slower and more demanding. But it is how we believe the land should be cared for, and it supports quality in the glass.
Why bring Bordeaux home to Australia?
Bordeaux can feel complicated — classifications, sub-regions, unfamiliar terms. We want Australians to be able to enjoy it without the mystery: honest, estate-grown wines from a family they can get to know, delivered from stock held in Australia.
Château Maine Gazin remains independent and family-owned. You can explore the wines, read our FAQ, or stay at the château when you're next in France.
Every decision still begins with the same question: what is the best expression of this vineyard?