Château Lanessan

Château Lanessan – The forgotten fifth? A Médoc gem steeped in history

In the heart of the Haut-Médoc, in the commune of Cussac-Fort-Médoc near the mouth of the Gironde, lies Château Lanessan – one of the oldest family-owned estates in Bordeaux. Its roots date back to 1310 , but the documented history of the present-day estate begins in 1793, when the Bordeaux wine merchant Jean Delbos acquired the estate, comprising 24 hectares of vineyards. Between 1876 and 1878, he commissioned the renowned architect Henri Duphot to build the magnificent, Tudor-influenced neoclassical château, which still dominates the estate today .

The estate remained in the family for generations. In 1907 Marie-Louise Delbos married Étienne Bouteiller, and since then the estate has been run by the Bouteiller family – now in its eighth generation –. Lanessan wrote a curious chapter in its history in 1855: during the famous Bordeaux classification, the owner Louis Delbos deliberately chose not to submit samples, as he did not take the classification seriously. This apparent mistake turned out to be a stroke of luck for connoisseurs, as the estate’s wines have since been highly praised by critics such as Robert Parker – who attributed to them the potential of a Fifth Growth.

The 42 to 45 hectares of vineyards extend across deep Garonne gravel soils with a subsoil rich in clay and pebbles. The plots are predominantly planted with Cabernet Sauvignon (around 60 per cent), followed by Merlot (around 30 per cent) and Petit Verdot (around 7 per cent). The average age of the vines is around 20 to 30 years. In the cellar, the estate prioritises the utmost precision: The grapes undergo optical sorting , before fermenting in temperature-controlled concrete tanks. The Grand Vin is aged for around 12 months in French oak barriques, in equal parts in new, one-year-old and two-year-old barrels.

Château Lanessan is today one of the finest estates in the Haut-Médoc and was last classified as a Cru Bourgeois Supérieur in 2003. Since 2020, the estate has been managed by a new team, which has strengthened the long-standing partnership with the renowned Médoc oenologist Eric Boissenot. A special feature is the equestrian museum housed on the estate, with a collection of historic carriages from the Belle Époque – a living testament to the close link between viticulture and equestrian tradition that continues to characterise the estate to this day.