What’s new Bordeaux 2024 Vintage

There is no better time than En Primeur to check in with the goings on in Bordeaux, and to share news that helps all of us keep up to date with this critical wine region, from vineyard and personnel changes to new wines and appellation news – basically anything that has happened over the past 12 months that might have an impact on the wines in this vintage and going forward.

I will keep updating this list as I go around the region over the next few weeks of tasting, so bookmark it and keep checking back in. And if you have châteaux changes that you would like me to include here, please email us on hello@janeanson.com

New owners and changes of personnel

• Big changes at Château Larcis Ducasse in St Emilion, where director Nicolas Thienpont is retiring after 22 years at the helm – during which time he saw the estate promoted to Premier Grand Cru Classé. Larcis Ducasse is now headed up by David Suire – with the next generation of the owner family also stepping up, to be co-managed by Araine Gratiot and Amel Attmane. Thienpont will remain at Château Pavie Macquin, as well as his home estates of La Prade, Puygueraud and Charmes-Godard.
• Château Marquis de Terme in Margaux is now headed up by Paloma Sénéclauze of the owning family, replacing managing director Ludovic David. She will be overseeing a slightly different footprint of vines also, which now include the recently purchased Château Marojallia, also in Margaux – while at the same time reducing the percentage of 1st wine overall, focusing on the best plots.
• Gregory Leymarie has been appointed managing director across Groupe Thunevin, heading up Château Valandraud and Thunevin’s many other estates, and the Badon Boutique hotel. Arriving in October 2024, Leymarie was previously director of Pernod Ricard Africa, spending over ten years in South Africa and Ghana. For 12 years from 2000-2012 he was also owner of Domaine de la Part des Anges in St Emilion, where he first met Jean-Luc Thunevin.
• A new group CEO also at Château Haut-Brion/Domaines Clarence Dillon with Julien Morel, effective April 1, 2025. Morel brings over 16 years of experience at Moët Hennessy and will oversee operations at Haut-Brion, Château La Mission Haut-Brion, and Château Quintus, among other ventures. His appointment comes as the company celebrates its 90th anniversary under the Dillon family.
• The expanded team (and Italian connections) at Château Lascombes continues with the arrival of Vincenzo d’Andrea as Sales Director, joining from Bibi Graetz in Tuscany.
• Plenty to watch at the Domaines Delon wine estates on both Left and Right banks. Over at Léoville Las Cases, Arnaud Delon has arrived full time to join his father Jean-Hubert. At the same time Federico Bertucci has arrived as vineyard and cellar master for Château Nenin in 2024, heading over from sibling estate Léoville Las Cases, with Antoine Mariaud joining Nenin as technical director from Château Bon Pasteur. Originally from Sicily, he lots of experience with drought viticulture, which although not so critical in 2024 is bound to be important over the next decade. Florent Fresse is now Commercial Director at Las Cases since 2023, coming over from Baron Philippe de Rothschild (SA).
• The next generation has arrived at Château Gazin with Elise de Baillencourt-Fournier and her brother Edouard de Bailliencourt, 5th generation at the family estate in Pomerol.
• A next generation arrival at Vignobles Chatonnet also, with Pascal joined by his daughter , and agricultural engineer, Clarisse Chatonnet. Together they will be overseeing Châteaux Haut-Chaigneau, La Croix Chaigneau, La Sergue, and L’Archange.
• Over at Dassault Wine Estates, Valérie Befve has taken over from Romain Depons as Managing Director of Vignobles Dassault in St Emilion as of February 2025. Christophe Salin, ex Lafite, continues as President, together overseeing three classified estates of Château Dassault, Château  La Fleur, Château Faurie de Souchard, as well as Château Trimoulet.
• Lauren Laudrin has been appointed General Manager of Château Beauregard and Château Petit-Village in Pomerol. She succeeds Vincent Priou, who held this position for 35 years and will continue as consultant during the transition period.
• 2024 marks Château Larrivet Haut-Brion‘s last vintage with Bruno Le Moine as Managing Director before retirement. He now hands over to Charlotte Mignon, previously Cellar Master and later Director of Development. Mignon assumed her new role of in January 2025
• Edmond de Rothschild Heritage has appointed Aurélien Joly as Managing Director of its Wine division, succeeding Boris Bréau. Appointed to the role in 2024, Joly had been with Edmond de Rothschild since 2015, and will be overseeing the group’s 500ha and nine properties across  South Africa, Argentina, Spain, France and New Zealand, including Château Clarke in Listrac-Médoc.
• A switch of roles at Châteaux Lafon Rochet and Pédesclaux, as Christophe Congé and Vincent Bache-Gabrielsen take on each other’s jobs heading up the two properties – with Bache-Gabrielsen heading to St Estèphe and Congé (back) down to Pauillac (he was at Lafite before joining the Lorenzetti estates).
• Over in the consultancy world, Emilio de Longhi has joined Eric Boissenot as of 2024 from Geisenheim University where he has been working on a doctorate on the aromatics of white wines. Originally from Milan, de Longhi also studied at the Institute of Oenology in Bordeaux,  and replaces Marco Balsimelli on the Boissenot team, who has headed over to Ornellaia and Masseto in Tuscany.
• Audrey Ricardi is the new cellar master at Château Brane Cantenac, coming over from Château Pédéslcaux.
• Penelope Godefroy has been appointed Managing Director of Vignobles Dourthe, with Valentin Jestin as Deputy Managing Director.

New Wines 

• At Château Lascombes in Margaux, Axel Heinz, director since 2023, is launching La Côte Lascombes, a Merlot-only wine from the 2022 vintage, priced at around €180 — twice the cost of the estate’s Grand Vin. Heinz, who arrived from Tuscan Merlot icon Masseto, is introducing a number of plans to revitalise the estate. Also worth noting from 2024 is that the plots used for the main wine are being significantly reduced, taking the footprint of vines for this 1st wine of Château Lascombes back to its 1855 configuration.
• In 2024, Château Montrose planted an experimental Cabernet Sauvignon plot to better understand and anticipate the effects of climate change on the vine, exploring the impact of planting density, rootstock selection, and vine height to identify the most suitable practices for future conditions. At the same time, a new wine is underway called Dix Hectares, from a specific 10ha plot of vines (among its 125ha) facing the river Garonne. We may have to wait some time for this to arrive in bottle – but you can follow the project. 
• Look out for a new white wine in 2024 from Clos Manou called Albus, a collaboration between Stephane Diéf and Christophe Gouache of Château Loudenne. Dief had been consulting for Loudenne, helping them with the purchase back in 2018 of  Château Bellerive de Valeyrac en 2018, where Gouache began planting white grapes in 2019, on land alongside the Estuary, at high density. These plots have since been sold to a new company, Clos Albus, jointly owned by the two men.
• Fourcas Hosten has a new white wine, Château Fourcas Hosten Blanc, released with the 2023 vintage, that is a blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Sémillon and Sauvignon Gris. It will be bottled under the new AOC Médoc Blanc – unsurprisingly as the team at Fourcas Hosten was part of the commission of enquiry for the creation of this appellation.
• Romain Baillou, from Château Couhins, has bought Château le Piat in Bourg with his novelist wife Martine Lafon-Baillou.
• Frédéric Ardouin, ex Château du Terte and Château Latour, has launched a new wine, also from Bourg, called Château Philosophe.
• Château d’Issan is also releasing a new white wine, a blend of Viognier, Marsanne, Roussanne and Rolle (Vermentino) for the 2024 vintage, name still being decided…
• The 24ha Château Clarisse, owned by Olivier and Didier Calvez (with a 40% investment from Groupe Bolloré) has a new Chardonnay, called Clarisse, bottled on the Vin de France, on the market with the 2023 vintage.
• Another unusual new dry white from an 1855 château, to track down as of the 2023 vintage. This was is a Blanc de Noir from Château Desmirail, called La Perle de Desmirail, and is a blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon , and Cabernet Franc.
• Château Le Boscq is now entirely owned by Vignobles Dourthe, where previously they were renting the vines. The estate is also in organic conversion, with things expected to be official in 2025.
• Château Branas Grand Poujeaux has launched a new high-end Merlot from a tiny plot of old vines, called Marpaout.
• As of the 2023 vintage, Jean-Luc Thunevin’s Domaine des Sabines has changed its name to Château des Sabines.

Vineyard/Winery Changes

• The uprooting of the Bordeaux vineyard is continuing apace – even stretching into the Médoc and other prestige appellations. Château La Tour Carnet, for example, is pulling up 50ha, although I believe some of that will be replanted. Even Jacques Lurton is pulling up vines in Pessac Léognan, targeting 20ha across Châteaux Coucheroy, Couhins-Lurton, de Cruzeau, de Rochemorin and La Louvière. The expectation for now is that the entire Bordeaux vineyard will end up somewhere between 75,000ha and 80,000ha, a serious transformation of the landscape. The shame, from what I hear (generally, not the ones listed here) is that  many of the older, less productive plots, often on slopes, are being targeted, keeping the more productive and maybe less qualitative ones.
• Following the decision of Bordeaux court of appeal in early 2025, Pascale Peyronie of Domaines Peyronie, owner also Château Fonbadet in Pauillac has regained the right to use the Château Pauillac name.
• Chateau Rouget in Pomerol has been certified organic since 2023.
• This is the first vintage certified organic for Château Rauzan Ségla.
• The 28ha Moulis estate Château Biston Brillette, owned by the Barbarin family in Pian-Médoc was bought in October 2024 by Philippe-Frédéric Clossmann of 55 hectare Haut-Médoc Château Malleret. The two vineyards will be managed by director Paul Bordes.
• Two new cellars, two new vat rooms, and a new reception area, with 10,000m2 of space in total, will be opened in April 2025 at Château Larose-Trintaudon and Domaine Perganson.
• The 2024 vintage has been tough on organic producers, and several estates have pressed pause on organic conversion – among them Domaine de Chevalier in Pessac Léognan, Château d’Alcee in Francs, and Château Le Crock in St Estèphe.
• Château Cheval Blanc has tripled the size of its vegetable garden, now headed up by Lise Cahuzic, who spent six months in Canada with sustainable farmer, author, educator Jean Martin Fortier.  The vegetables will not only serve to supply the 500+ meals that are served at the estate each year, but will also supply local markets in the St Emilon region.
• Château Branaire Ducru opened its new cellar in April 2024 with 65 suspended vats in stainless steel, 100% gravity fed, doubling the amount of vats from the previous winery, designed by Atelier des Architectes Mazières.
• New 6,000m2 cellars also opened in 2024 at Château Cantenac Brown – completed for last year’s En Primeur, with the first full vintage in 2024. Built in raw earth and wood, designed by architect Philippe Madec.
• Château Cantemerle renovations are now complete, with finished landscaping and a new winery to follow in summer 2025.
• This is also the first vintage for Château Beauséjour (JDL) new wine cellar, with 14 cement vats (up from nine), ranging in size from 30hl to 40hl up to 90hl for the blends, and two tiny stainless steel tanks at 15hl for micro vinification. Now led by ninth-generation winemaker, Joséphine Duffau-Lagarrosse, and co-owner, Prisca Courtin, the project has taken three-years with vats that are the smallest in Saint-Émilion, a fresco depicting the 6.8-ha vineyard, and a 360° view of the estate.
• Château La Clotte in St Emilion has completed its renovation, 11 years after the Vauthier family purchased the esate in 2014.
• First year of production in the new cellar for Château le Prieuré in St Emilion.
• No Climens, Latour or La Tour Figeac during En Primeur – all are holding back to show later.

Anniversaries / In Memoriam

• The 2024 vintage of Château Hostens-Picant was the last year of founder Yves Picant, who died in February 2024. The estate was created by Picant in 1986, quickly leading the Sainte-Foy Côtes de Bordeaux appellation, and showing what was possible in this corner of Bordeaux.
• 2024 is the 25th harvest for Jeremy Chasseuil at Château Feytit Clinet in Pomerol, now joined by his two sons.
• Stephen Adams of Château Fonplégade in St Emilion, Château L’Enclos in Pomerol, and ADAMVS in Napa, died in March 2024, making this his last vintage, with his wife Denise continuing to run their properties.
• Although officially celebrated in 2025,  Silvio Denz arrived on the Right Bank at Châteaux Faugères, Péby Faugères and Cap de Faugères in 2005, making 2024 the 20th vintage under his stewardship.
• April 1, 1925 Léonce Recapet bought Château Brane Cantenac in Margaux, grandfather of current owner Henri Lurton, so this is the centenary anniversary of the Lurton family owning the property.

Appellation/classification news

• The new Cru Bourgeois classification, released in March 2025, is valid from 2023 vintage so any bottles of the 2024 vintage will also be covered by the latest ranking. Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel are Château la Cardonne, Château Castera, Château Laujac, Château Malescasse, Château de Malleret, Château Paloumey, Château Reysson, Château du Taillan, Château Reverdi, Château d’Arsac, Château Mongravey, Château Paveil de Luze, Château le Crock, Château Lafitte Carcasset.
• Announced in 2024, Francs is looking to create its own AOC, sitting alongside Francs Côtes de Bordeaux as an option for winemakers across the communes of Francs, Saint-Cibard and Tayac.
• The Union de Grands Crus de Bordeaux (UGCB) has appointed a new president François-Xavier Maroteaux, taking over from Ronan Laborde.
• AOC Médoc Blanc, that received its official validation by INAO on February 6 2025, is attracting a few high profile names. Not only will Château Fourcas Hosten’s new white (above) be bottled under this, but Christian Seely at Château Pichon Baron is also intending to use it for their new white Les Griffons de Pichon Baron Blanc. The allowable grapes will be Sauvignon Blanc (majority), Sauvignon Gris, Sémillon and Muscadelle – with some interesting additions of Alvarinho, Liliorila, Viognier, Sauvignac and resistant varieti Floréal and Souvignier Gris. At least 30% of the wine must be aged in barrel. Right now things are gearing up for a production in 2025.