Château

Château Bernadotte

shah-TOH bair-nah-DOT
How to read this

Capitals mark the stressed syllable. The French r comes from the back of the throat. The recording is the reference.

About 40 hectares in one block at Saint-Sauveur, along the Pauillac line, named for the French marshal who became king of Sweden and owned since the end of 2012 by King Power Group of Hong Kong.

Appellation
Haut-Médoc

The château

The house was built in 1860, and the name recalls Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, the marshal the Swedes called to their throne, who succeeded King Charles XIII in 1818. The estate as it stands is younger. In 1973 Curt Eklund, a Swedish industrialist, bought it, brought parcels together, the Bernadotte plot among them, and built a new cellar. Two great houses followed: Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande, under May-Eliane de Lencquesaing, in 1997, and the Champagne house Louis Roederer in 2007. At the end of 2012 Antares Cheng, chairman of King Power Group, bought it.

Guillaume Mottes is general manager and winemaker, Richard Gandiaga heads the production site, and Hubert de Boüard consults on the wine. Bernadotte was a Cru Bourgeois Supérieur in the classification of 2020 and is not in the list of 2025.

The vineyard, in one block along the Pauillac appellation, lies on fine gravel, sand, and clay and limestone, planted 51% Cabernet Sauvignon, 48% Merlot and 1% Petit Verdot at 10,000 vines a hectare, 30 years old on average; over 10 years the yield has averaged no more than 47 hectoliters a hectare. It has been certified AREA at level 2 since 2015 and Haute Valeur Environnementale (High Environmental Value, the French state’s environmental certification for farms) at level 3 since 2016. The wine spends 14 to 16 months in barrel, one third new, one third of 1 vintage and one third of 2, for about 200,000 bottles a year. Château Fournas Bernadotte comes from a parcel of 5 hectares, about 35,000 bottles a year, and Désirée, a rosé, is named for Désirée Bernadotte.

At a glance

Appellation
Haut-Médoc
Commune
Saint-Sauveur
Classification
Cru Bourgeois Supérieur in 2020; not in the list of 2025
Owner
King Power Group, Hong Kong, since the end of 2012
Direction
Guillaume Mottes, general manager and winemaker; Richard Gandiaga, head of the production site
Consultant
Hubert de Boüard
Vineyard
About 40 hectares in one block; 10,000 vines a hectare; 30 years old on average
Soil
Fine gravel, sand, clay and limestone Terroir of Haut-Médoc →
Farming
AREA at level 2 since 2015; Haute Valeur Environnementale at level 3 since 2016
Cellar
14 to 16 months in barrel, one third new
Production
About 200,000 bottles a year
Wines
Château Bernadotte; Château Fournas Bernadotte; Désirée, a rosé

Sources

Institutions
Alliance des Crus Bourgeois du Médoc: the classification of 2025, the classification of 2020
Its own publications
Château Bernadotte: the estate, the history, the team, the wines

Revised October 13, 2026. How I choose sources

The record

Château Bernadotte is in the Haut-Médoc appellation.

The 1855 Classification was published on April 18, 1855, drawn up by the brokers of the Bordeaux exchange for the Exposition Universelle in Paris.

Source: Conseil des Grands Crus Classés en 1855

Private

By invitation only.

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