Château

Château Cantelys

shah-TOH kahnt-LEES
How to read this

Capitals mark the stressed syllable. “ahn” is a nasal vowel: say it through the nose, with no n. The recording is the reference.

A young Pessac-Léognan at Martillac, created by Dominique Lurton in the 1980s, owned by the Cathiards of Smith Haut Lafitte from the early 1990s and now run by the Helfrich family.

Appellation
Pessac-Léognan

The château

Cantelys lies at Martillac, close to Château de Rochemorin and Lafont-Menaut and 2 kilometers from Château Smith Haut Lafitte, on mainly gravelly soil. Dominique Lurton created it in the 1980s, and from the early 1990s it belonged to Florence and Daniel Cathiard, the owners of Smith Haut Lafitte. It is now run by the Helfrich family, growers in France, Spain and Chile, who mean to carry on the work of their predecessors.

The red is 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Merlot. The estate makes about 4,000 cases of red and 1,500 of white, 95% of which goes abroad, and does not receive visitors.

At a glance

Appellation
Pessac-Léognan
Commune
Martillac
Classification
No classification
Operator
The Helfrich family
Soil
Mainly gravel Terroir of Pessac-Léognan →
Grapes
Red: Cabernet Sauvignon 70%, Merlot 30%
Production
4,000 cases of red, 1,500 of white; 95% exported
Wines
Château Cantelys, red and white

Sources

Institutions
Syndicat de l’appellation Pessac-Léognan, Château Cantelys
Companies
Château Smith Haut Lafitte: our other châteaux, technical sheet
Its own publications
Château Cantelys

Revised September 23, 2026. How I choose sources

The record

Château Cantelys is in the Pessac-Léognan appellation.

The classification of the Graves was approved in 1953 and completed in 1959. It has a single rank and 2 lists, red and white, and an estate may be classified for one and not the other.

Source: Syndicat Viticole de Pessac-Léognan, the Crus Classés de Graves

Private

By invitation only.

Houses in its story

On from here

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