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Bordeaux Producers
Name: Bordeaux
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In the 1855 classification of the Medoc, one wine that was not from the Medoc but rather Pessac was also admitted; Haut -Brion. Its Pessac neighbour La Mission Haut-Brion was not granted a similar special admission. Yet if any wine from Pessac also deserves first growth status, it is La Mission Haut-Brion.
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It’s easy to get excited about the classified stars in the Bordeaux firmament but these aren’t the wines we drink on a weekly basis. Some of them are so far out of reach they are wines we can only dream of drinking.
Tour de By is the antidote to that. Situated pretty much on the banks of the Gironde on a high gravel outcrop, north of St-Estephe, planted to 70% Cabernet, 25% Merlot & 5% Petit Verdot. Well drained very poor soil gives it ideal growing conditions and improvements in vineyard practice over the past few years have put the final touches to what is a very well managed property. -
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Austere and evasive in youth but deeply profound in age, Lafite is one of the five Medoc First Growths, and one of the two owned by branches of the Rothschild family. It is one of the oldest estates in Bordeaux - the ‘Seigneurie de la Hite’ domaine is noted on a document from 1234, though in those days it was all about cereal and cattle. Vineyards were not seriously laid out here until the 1680s, at the hands of Jacques de Segur, who laid out what would become many of Bordeaux’s great vineyards.
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Few Bordeaux chateaux are more associated with a particular colour than St-Estephe fourth growth Lafon-Rochet; both the chateau itself and the label on the bottle are a bright shade of yellow. (It’s worth noting, though, that over in Pomerol Vieux Chateau Certan does own pink). Lafon-Rochet began as an aristocratic home and estate, though (unlike many chateaux) it was not confiscated during the Revolution. The modern world arrived in 1959, when chateau and estate were purchased by the Tesseron family.
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After an impressive showing in 1855 that saw it awarded Third Growth status, St-Julien property Lagrange suffered long years of neglect. Swathes of vineyard were sold off, and the chateau itself was gutted in a fire in the 1950s. Things finally began change in 1983, when Lagrange was bought by the Suntory Group and investment poured in. The winemaking facilities were completely modernised. The vineyard was replanted, and with new acquisitions the size of the vineyard doubled from 55 to 118 hectares (on a total 142 hectares of land), making Lagrange the largest estate in St-Julien.
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No Bordeaux classed growth has been in the hands of the same family longer than Langoa Barton; it was purchased by Thomas Barton in 1821. Of course, Leoville Barton followed into the family stable soon after, and both properties are now on their eighth generation of Bartons, with Damien Barton now working beside his sister Melanie and their mother Lilian. The two properties are inevitably defined against each other. The Leoville Barton vineyards lie in the north of St-Julien, between the chateau and the river.
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In my tiny mind Chateau Latour always seems the most stolid of the first growths, the most reliable, the one you would want on your side. Yet in recent times their radical decision to abandon the en primeur system went against current thinking and they remain alone in this. Although the estate was founded in the 15th century, the wine entreprise started around 1670.
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One might expect the three Leoville siblings - Leoville-Poyferre, Leoville-Las Cases and Leoville-Barton - to make broadly similar wines. After all, they are neighbouring estates, all in St Julien, all classified as second growths in 1855, and all once part of the very same estate, Leoville, until debt and Napoleonic-era turbulence sundered them. But with different owners and winemakers at each, they can produce radically different wines.
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The commune of St Julien may have no first-growths, but it is well served by seconds and fourths (Margaux rules the thirds).
