Updated: What’s New for Bordeaux 2021

After two years when the majority of En Primeur tastings were done at the kitchen table, or under a curfew that meant we had to be home by 7pm every night, things are just about to kick off for the first En Primeur for two years with large numbers of people tasting at the châteaux. Numbers are back to around 80% of 2019 – with between 1,000 and 1,500 people expected at most of the classified estates in the Médoc.

Next week, I am going to break down what to expect in terms of the wine style, and the specifics of how to interpret this most unusual of vintages (subscriber content). But before doing that, I wanted to update you on the many changes that have taken place over the past year. It turns out Bordeaux is no different from the rest of us – two years of confinement and disrupted working has meant the largest number of personnel changes that I have seen in almost two decades, as well as numerous changes of ownership and strategy.

Don’t begin your En Primeur season without reading this…

New Owners

• Bernard Magrez has bought Château Caronne Ste Gemme from François Nony, with the sale just becoming official last month. This 38ha estate is located in St Laurent, A0C Haut-Médoc, with soils that are similar to those found in St Julien. Nony is the 4^th generation of his family since they first bought it in 1990, and will remain part of the team for the next three years, along with his brother Georges. Magrez is also the owner of Château La Tour Carnet, an 1855 classified estates in the same appellation, and it would be within the rules for him to incorporate Caronne into La Tour Carnet (an estate that has already grown significantly in recent years). I’m a big fan on Caronne Ste Gemme, so am hoping we are not going to see it entirely disappear – but just in case, this is one to watch and maybe stock up on over the next few years.
• Château Loudenne created a stir in November 2021 by announcing – via a press release – that it was for sale, because its 50% partner Kweichow Moutai was suffering from increasingly tight Chinese regulations about moving capital overseas. A few weeks ago the new owner was announced to be Christophe Gouache, already owner of Château Bellerive in AOC Médoc. Gouache will be 100% owner, having also bought the shares of Camus Cognac. And Stéphane Dief of Clos Manou will become consultant (as he already was with Vigobles Gouache). Director Philippe de Poyferré will stay on, and the current organic conversion will continue.
• In July 2021, Château la Dauphine bought the excellent 13ha Vrai Canon Bouché in Fronsac – and it will be brought in line with La Dauphine’s environmentally-friendly focus with an organic certification this year, in 2022.
• In September 2021, Domaine Clarence Dillon of Haut-Brion bought the 14ha Château Grand Pontet in St Emilion from the Pourquet-Bécot family. It is likely to soon become part of Château Quintus – making it one of the biggest estates in St Emilion at 42ha of vines. There is also a new director at Château Quintus, as of February 2022, with the promotion of 34 year old Mariette Veyssière, who has been with the estate since 2013 as quality control (her father and grandfather were cellar masters with Jean Pierre Moueix, and she began her career with stints at both Haut-Brion and Latour). See below for more new directors.
• In January 2022, Dourthe Vignobles became full owners of Château Le Boscq in St Estèphe. They were already in charge of this Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel, but as tenants for the past 26 years. January full owners by Dourthe before they were farming it for 26 years, since 1995.
• In November 2021, the Australian giants Treasury Wine Estates completed the purchase of three particularly interesting Cru Bourgeois properties that have long been favourites of mine: Château Belle-Vue, Château Gironville (both AOC Haut-Médoc) and Château Bolaire (AOC Bordeaux). This is in addition to the 2019 purchase of Château Cambon la Pelouse and Château Trois Moulins (both AOC Haut-Médoc and AOC Margaux). Treasury, as owners of Penfolds, are a major arrival on the Bordeaux wine scene but have remained pretty discreet so far. With the recent news that the company will be launching a limited edition Chinese-bottled version of Penfolds Max (still with Australian grapes), and understanding that they are looking for a way around the punishing import taxes on Australian wines within China right now, I fully expect a Bordeaux wine to be bearing the Penfolds name within the next few years.
• Château Guiraud, the Sauternes 1855 estate, has a new majority owner as of October 2021. French entrepreneur Matthieu Gufflet, founder of hotels Terres de Natures among other hospitality businesses, will continue the focus on tourism that Guiraud has been developing over the past few years. Olivier Bernard, Peugeot Invest and Stephan von Neipperg will remain minority shareholders. Xavier Planty has sold his shares, but his son Luc remains as director.
• Big news in September 2021 with the announcement that Jacky Lorenzetti had bought 1855 St Estèphe 4^th Growth Château Lafon Rochet. Lorenzetti was already owner of a classified estate in Pauillac, Château Pédésclaux, and of another St Estèphe, Château Lilan Ladouys (plus a shareholder in négociant LD Vins, plus 50% owner of Château d’Issan in Margaux). It brings Lorenzetti to around 200ha of vines on the Left Bank, and makes him one of the most powerful owners in the region. Most observers expect at least some of his St Estèphe vines will be used within the production of Lafon Rochet within the next decade, although no official announcement has been made.
• Hubert de Boüard has announced he is selling a 70% stake in his Lalande-de-Pomerol estate Château La Fleur de Boüard to Valerie Liquard and her husband Olivier Goudet, owners of Château Charmail, Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel in the Médoc.  De Boüard is also stepping back from his consultancy service, but this is not a sale but a change of shares in favour of his current associates (much as Michel Rolland did a few years ago with his own consultancy).
• New investors also for Joanne négociant, one of the biggest En Primeur merchants in Bordeaux. Owned solely by the Castéja family since its founding in 1862, owner Pierre-Olivier Castéja has taken on three new investors; Claude Bébéar of AXA Millésimes, Norbert Dentressangle of XPO Logistics and Philippe Donnet of Italian insurance company Generali.

Personnel Changes

• Christophe Congé, long-term oenologist at Château Lafite Rothschild, has been named managing director of Château Lafon-Rochet. A big coup for new owner Jacky Lorenzetti – and not far to go for Congé, as Lafon is located just over the border from Pauillac in St Estèphe.
• Pierre Grafeuille has left Château Léoville Las Cases to join the team at Montrose and Tronquoy Lalande in St Estèphe (together with the other Bouygues estates in France) – working alongside Hervé Berland until October 1, and then taking over as director on Berland’s retirement.
• Jean-Guillaume Prats, having left Lafite-Rotshchild, will be joining Château Léoville Las Cases/Domaines Delon as vice president, working alongside owner Jean-Hubert Delon. Prats is also taking up a role on the board of direction for Château La Lagune, and the Jaboulet Ainé estates in the Rhone that are also owned by the Frey family.
• Longterm Château Angélus winemaker Emmanuel Fulchi d’Aligny, who joined as a trainee in 1990 before returning full-time in 1996, made her last vintage in 2020, with Benjamin Laforet taking over as technical director for the 2021 vintage alongside owner Hubert de Boüard de Laforest.
• Fulchi, meanwhile, is now technical director at Vignobles K, the fast-rising winemaking group owned by Peter Kwok that includes, among others, classified estate Château Bellefont-Belcier. She will be working alongside managing director JC Meyrou, replacing technical director Jerome Aguirre, who is heading over to the Left Bank.
• Martine Cazenave retired from her role as managing director of Château Franc Mayne in 2021, handing over to Pierre Arnald, who previously managed Stade Français rugby team. Technical manager remains Sophie Mage.
• Diane Garcia Berrouet, previously at Château Petit Village has moved over to one of the highest profile roles there is in the Pomerol appellation, as technical director of Château Le Pin (she is sister-in-law of Olivier Berrouet at Petrus). And staying within the Jacques and Fiona Thienpont stable of estates, Professor Axel Marchal has completed his first year as consultant for Château L’Hêtre in Castillon.
• Lucie Lauilhé has replaced Jean-Paul Paultert as director of Château d’Armailhac in Pauillac. Paultert is retiring after 29 years in the post.
• Nicolas Seillan has taken over as winemaker at Château Lassegue as of 2021 vintage, following on from his father Pierre Seillan.
• Jean-René Matignon has announced his retirement from Château Pichon Baron after 36 years. He will be replaced by Pierre Montégut, long-term director of Château Suduiraut in Sauternes, also within the AXA Millésimes stable.
• Mathilde Bazin de Caix-Lurton has been named as CEO of Vignobles André Lurton, working alongside her uncle Jacques Lurton, who continues to head up the company as president (and chief winemaker) since his father André’s death in 2019. Caix-Lurton has previously worked with another uncle, François Lurton, as his estates in Argentina and Spain. She replaces Pascal Le Faucheur on his retirement. Among the new projects at the Lurton group are several interesting new wines to look out for, including 100% Carménère from Château Cruzeau, a 100% Cabernet Franc from Château Barbe-Blanche and a 100% Petit Verdot from Château Rochemorin. There is also due to be a 100% Malbec.
• Antoine Mariau is the new technical director at Chateau Nenin, in place since December 2021. He was previously at Château Cadet-Bon in St Emilion.
• As of January 2022, Stanislas Thierry, has been named development director of Château Kirwan, 1855 3rd Growth in Margaux.

Green Winemaking Update

• Château La Peyruche unveils its first vintage certified organic in 2021, as did Couvent des Jacobins in St Emilion from 2020.
• Petit Village in Pomerol, Yquem in Sauternes and Lilian Ladouys in St Estèphe began their conversion to organics in 2020, so this is the 2^nd vintage in conversion for all of them, with certification expected in 2023.
• Fleur Cardinale and the Vignobles K estates in St Emilion began full conversion to organics in 2021, as did Lafite Rothschild and Pichon Comtesse in Pauillac and Tronqouy Lalande in St Estèphe.
• In September 2021 Troplong Mondot became the first French wine estate to join International Wineries for Climate Action (IWCA), founded by Familia Torres of Spain and Jackson Family wines of California.
• Pascal Chatonnet has begun converting to organics at all his estates in Lalande-de-Pomerol, with certification expected in 2024.
• St Pierre and Gloria in St Julien have begun conversion to biodynamics, with ex-Pontet Canet director Jean-Michel Comme as consultant.

Wine Changes and New Cellars

• Château Sérilhan in St Estèphe, a Cru Bourgeois Superieur, will be making no 2021 wine. This is due to owner Didier Marcelis retiring from the winery, which has now moved into a fermage, and I understand is for sale. A shame to see this go, and a reflection of a chaotic few years for the Cru Bourgeois family of estates.
• The long awaited new cellar at Château Lynch Bages is being officially inaugurated this month, but was in full operation for the 2021 vintage.
• Château d’Armailhac has new cellars for the 2021 vintage.
• A new cellar project at Châteaux Léoville and Langoa Barton is under way. It is not yet fully completed but new smaller vats were in use for the first time with the 2021 vintage. Before this, they often had to combine plots from the vineyard into their large 2,000hl vats, but now have a range of sizes from 80hl, 110hl, 150hl and 200hl. Previously they had 28 2,000l vats and now only 10 of this size.
• Château La Fleur Cardinale in St Emilion opened its new winery in 2021.
• Château Haut-Bailly unveiled its new winery for the 2021 harvest also, with a cool room that allowed them to fully measure out and decide which plots or sub plots could go into which vat that range from 50hl up to 120hl for fermentation – particularly useful in a vintage like 2021.
• New cellars at new Carillon d’Angélus and N°3 d’Angélus winery located at Saint-Magne-de-Castillon. Building works for new cellars at Angélus itself have just begun, with work due for completion in 2024.
• Troplong Mondot new cellar has 42 tanks double the previous size, and is fully functional as from the 2021 vintage.
• New cellars are planned at Beauséjour Bécot for 2023 vintage, with work beginning 2021.
• Axel Marchal is the new consultant at Château Beauséjour Duffau-Lagarrosse in St Emilion, working alongside Michel Rolland. Owner Josephine Daffau-Lagarosse is also a qualified oenologist and winemaker.
• The home estate of Jean-Michel Comme, Château Champ des Treilles, formerly in St Foy Côtes de Bordeaux, has moved to Vin de France.
• It is not yet confirmed whether Angélus, Cheval Blanc and Ausone will bottle their 2021 wines under the ranking St Emilion Premier Grand Cru Classé A, which they still have the right to do this year, even though they withdrew from the classification. Their status will officially cease with the publication of the new ranking in September 2022.

 

(Main image care of Château Lafon Rochet)