Château du Cartillon

The estate

Cartillon lies at Lamarque, midway between Margaux and Saint-Julien on the road of the châteaux, and its land runs up against 3 estates of Moulis: Poujeaux, Maucaillou and Chasse-Spleen. In 1850 it belonged to Alexandre de Bethmann, later mayor of Bordeaux, from 1867 to 1870, and Charles Cocks, the Englishman whose Bordeaux, ses environs et ses vins became, with Édouard Féret, the guide of the Bordeaux trade, listed Le Cartillon under his name at 90 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels). From 1868 it belonged to Félix Clauzel. In 1874 the guide described a domain of 64 hectares with 33 of vines on gravel, making 1 of the best wines of Lamarque, and from 1893 it printed Cartillon among the crus bourgeois supérieurs, under the Clauzel heirs, at 120 tonneaux.

Since 2007 the estate has been run by the Société Fermière des Grands Crus de France, part of the Grands Chais de France group, whose Bordeaux arm is Crus et Domaines de France. The vineyard is 55 hectares of sandy gravel and sandy clay, planted 55% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Petit Verdot at 6,666 vines a hectare, and certified Haute Valeur Environnementale (High Environmental Value, the French state’s environmental certification for farms) at level 3; the oldest vines are grassed and the youngest plowed. The wine ages about 12 months in 225-liter barrels, about half of them new. Cartillon was a Cru Bourgeois Supérieur in the classification of 2020 and again in 2025.

At a glance

Appellation

Haut-Médoc

Commune

Lamarque

Classification

Cru Bourgeois Supérieur, 2020 and 2025

Operator

Société Fermière des Grands Crus de France, Grands Chais de France, since 2007

Vineyard

55 hectares; 6,666 vines a hectare

Ground

Sandy gravel and sandy clay

Grapes

Merlot 55%, Cabernet Sauvignon 25%, Petit Verdot 20%

Farming

Haute Valeur Environnementale, level 3

Cellar

About 12 months in barrel, about 50% new

The house

Also Château La Fortune, Margaux

In history

Alexandre de Bethmann, 90 tonneaux, in 1850; a cru bourgeois supérieur of 120 tonneaux from 1893

Sources: Crus et Domaines de France, Château du Cartillon · Crus et Domaines de France, Château du Cartillon, brochure of 2020 · Crus et Domaines de France · Alliance des Crus Bourgeois du Médoc, Château du Cartillon · Alliance des Crus Bourgeois du Médoc, the classification of 2025 · Alliance des Crus Bourgeois du Médoc, the classification of 2020