The Women Winemakers of Bordeaux

International Women’s Day is on March 8th - just around the corner.  At Laguna Cellar, we are proud to present wines with connection to several of the many talented and hardworking women in the Bordeaux wine trade. 

Though there are past reports of Bordeaux being a traditionally male dominated industry, more and more women are taking a leadership role in the trade than ever before.  We want to take a moment and share our appreciation for a few outstanding women-run chateaux.  Not only are these women producing knockout wines, but they are also breaking barriers and remaking the image of Bordeaux.  That’s something to be celebrated, particularly around this time of the year!

The Trailblazing Women of Château Pichon Lalande

For the true wine connoisseur who loves sensual wines that pack a powerhouse punch – look no further than this Pauillac tour de force of a producer, Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande. 

Château Pichon Lalande defies tradition in many ways.   In the 18th Century, the property was run entirely by three women: Therese de Rauzan, Germaine de Lajus and Marie Branda de Terrefort. Instead of being passed down through the male side of the family, the property was passed from aunts to nieces and run by the same family for 250 years. 

Though it sits adjacent to the First Growth Château Latour, the wine from Pichon Lalande exhibits a finesse that is different from the traditional Pauillac style and is considered sensually elegant.

Virginie de Pichon Longueville, Comtesse de Lalande
May-Eliane de Lencquesaing

There’s a strong feminine influence over the way things are run at Château Pichon Lalande, and it’s definitely a source of pride at the estate.  

In 1978, May-Eliane de Lencquesaing became the new owner and managing director of Château Pichon Lalande.  She was nicknamed, “Le Générale,” partially because of her husband’s military background and mostly because she was a force to be reckoned with. She supervised the 1982 and 1983 productions, two vintages considerd the finest ever produced at Pichon Lalande.

She traveled the globe and was considered by many to be one of the most formidable brand ambassadors for Bordeaux.  Under her management, quality of the wine at Château Pichon Lalande skyrocketed, and earned international recognition and critical acclaim. 

After the Champagne powerhouse Roederer acquired Pichon Lalande in 2007, the new owner hired Sylvie Cazes to oversee the property. Since then, these 100% organically farmed wines have continued to shine.

Lilian Barton Sartorius

We have had the fortune to cross paths with this friendly and hardworking lady at tasting events year after year. You can count on her to always be there, smiling and pouring the grand vin of both Château Léoville Barton and Château Langoa Barton, sharing her own personal stories with each vintage. 

To call her devotion to managing and promoting both properties, “impressive,” would be an understatement.

Lillian is a very busy woman.  In addition to running the operations at Château Langoa Barton and assisting her father, Anthony Barton, in running the Super Second powerhouse Château Léoville Barton, she also serves as the Brand Ambassador who tirelessly champions the family's wines.  

Château Langoa Barton and Château Léoville Barton are so intertwined that, year after year, Léoville Barton produces its wines in the actual chartreuse of Langoa Barton.  Both are excellent producers of Saint-Julien appellation, known for its luscious fruit balanced with power.

Admittedly, Château Léoville Barton has received the majority of the fanfare over the last few years – the phenomenal 2016 vintage of their grand vin was named Wine Spectator’s #1 Wine of its Top 10 in 2019. 

Yet, the wine from Château Langoa Barton is starting to garner high ratings and win over critics who are looking at this property with fresh eyes.

The Ambassador from Léoville Barton & Langoa Barton

It is clear that Lillian Barton Sartorius is a one of a kind of an owner manager of a family chateau.  Her maternal family, the Bartons, is only one of three families that has continuously remained the owner of their estates since the original 1855 Classification.  She started working for her father, Anthony Barton, in her 20s.  Over three decades later, she is now preparing her children to take care the management of the family empire.  They will be the 10th generation to assumer that role.

 

The Rising Star

Those who love a good story about a property defying expectation will love the story of Château Marquis d’Alesme.  

The wines of this Third Growth Margaux estate were unremarkable for many decades; until Nathalie Perrodo inherited it from her late father, Hubert Perrodo, a French entrepreneur in the oil and gas industry.  He bought Château Marquis d'Alesme after having established himself as a sizable producer of wine in the area by acquiring other promising independent wine estates.  Soon after the acquisition, he died in a hiking accident.  His oil and gas business was passed to his Oxford-educated son with an engineering degree, while the wine business landed on the plate of her daughter. Nathalie was just 24 when all this happened.  She was unsure if she could stand up to the momentous task of running a grand cru classé chateau. 

She reached out to Corinne Mentzelopoulos of the neighboring estate of Château Margaux.  Corinne had a similar experience; her father died when she was just 27 and she too was faced with the monumental task of running a Classified Growth Estate at a young age. Corinne encouraged Nathalie and told her if she had a good team, she could do it.  Nathalie took her advice and brought in the dream team to run Château Marquis d’Alesme. 

The property ended up being run predominately by women. Nathalie hired the gifted oenologist, Marjolaine Maurice de Coninck, who brings her experience from working at the other Perrodo-owned properties like Château Labégorce and Château La Tour de Mons.  Château Marquis d’Alesme underwent an extensive renovation in 2015 and is now sustainably farmed with viticultural practices inspired by biodynamic farming.  The grapes are harvested by hand here according to the lunar calendar, and only the choicest berries make their way into the grand vin

Nathalie Perrodo Of Château Marquis d’Alesme

If one pays attention to scores, they will see critical acclaim beginning to pour in – especially for vintages from 2012 on.  Pricing still remains affordable for a Classified Growth, with a bottle of Grand Vin coming in at the $50.00 range, for now. Situated next door to the First Growth estate Château Margaux holds out promise that one day, Château Marquis d'Alesme will shine due to its terroir.

Pénélope Godefroy Of Château Siaurac

Château Siaurac is one of the more unusual wines we offer at Laguna Cellar.  While not a classified growth, with its owernship by Château Latour and wine critics' ratings rising above 90 points from recent vintages, it is decidedly a wine to watch.  With its retail price still under $30, its quality to price ratio is unbeatable.

Château Siaurac is a 46-hectare property located in the commune of Néac – a continuation of the famous Pomerol plateau.  It is the largest estate within Néac, and the vines are planted in one continuous plot. Though Pomerol receives more fanfare and critical acclaim, many argue the heavily graveled clay terroir of Néac is just as good.  There are a lot of winemakers doing amazing things here and the fact that this Right Bank commune is more obscure very much serves to the advantage of bargain hunters.

Perhaps one of the more important reasons why the wines of Château Siaurac are so amazing is because the team is fortunate enough to have Pénélope Godefroy as the technical director. Before coming over to manage Siaurac, Pénélope Godefroy was the oenologist at Château Latour.  Château Latour had so much confidence in the potential of Siaurac, it bought the property and sent its young star oenologist there to do a make-over. 

It was Pénélope who championed the transition of the First Growth property over to biodynamic viticulture, and she brings the same passion and experience to Château Siaurac. 

The One Talent To Watch

Speaking of terroir, Pénélope firmly believes in the potential of the terroir at Château Siaurac.  

The estate has practiced sustainable agriculture and Biodynamic inspired techniques for a very long time.  They completely stopped chemical weeding in 2015 in addition to planting cover crops and using beehives near the vines to help with pollination. 

Château Siaurac has Organic aspirations for the future, and it’s clear Pénélope’s influence on the estate is making critics take notice. 

Their Merlot-based wines have smaller percentages of Cabernet Franc and just a kiss of Malbec, lending them an incredibly friendly, charming and easy-drinking quality.  For value-oriented wine lovers who enjoy approachable wines with great structure – look no further than Château Siaurac.  

There are many more incredible women who tirelessly work toward creating, representing, and running estates throughout Bordeaux and beyond who we haven’t mentioned, and we are privileged to import and sell their wines to you, our trusted consumer.  It’s exciting to see the changes in Bordeaux as women continue to offer their gifts and knowledge while breaking past boundaries.  We can assure you on March 8th at Laguna Cellar, we will definitely raise our glasses and have a toast to these inspiring women in wine.