Château Durfort-Vivens

The estate

Durfort-Vivens carries 2 family names, and neither belonged to a winemaker. The first is that of the Durfort de Duras. The second came by marriage: in 1758 the château went to George Ainslie, a Scottish wine merchant, whose last daughter married the Chevalier de Vivens, and in 1824 their son added the name. The place began as a hunting lodge in the 14th century and took vines in the 17th, and by the end of the 18th it was on Thomas Jefferson’s list.

The books of the first half of the 19th century could not decide what it was. William Franck, whose Traité sur les vins du Médoc first appeared in 1824, made it a fourth growth under de Vivens, in the band of 1,200 to 1,400 francs the tonneau (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels), and still had it a fourth in 1845; André Jullien in 1832 and a survey of 1842 called it a second. Pierre Biarnez, who put the growths of the Médoc into verse in 1849, did not contest its rank as a second growth and blamed an absent owner for leaving it nothing but the prestige of the name. Franck finally made it a second in 1853, and the brokers agreed 2 years later. In 1866 the Comte de Puységur sold the estate to G. Richier and E. de La Mare for 500,000 francs.

Lucien Lurton bought it in 1961, and his son Gonzague has run it since 1992, when he was 26; Léopold Valentin is technical director. The vineyard runs to 65 hectares across Margaux, Cantenac, Soussans and Arsac, on gravel over 3 geological terraces, planted 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Merlot and 2% Cabernet Franc, with 5,400 old Muscadelle vines and 325 of Castets alongside. Biodynamic work began in 2009 and covered the whole estate by 2012; in 2016 it was certified both organic and biodynamic, the latter by Demeter. Vivens is the second wine. Around them the estate makes Les Parcelles, from the single plots of Le Plateau, Le Hameau and Les Plantes; La Nature, with no added sulfites; and Blanc de Noir, a white pressed from 70% Cabernet Franc and 30% Muscadelle.

At a glance

Appellation

Margaux

Classification

Deuxième Cru Classé 1855

Owner

Gonzague Lurton, since 1992; the Lurton family since 1961

Direction

Léopold Valentin, technical director

Vineyard

65 hectares across Margaux, Cantenac, Soussans and Arsac

Ground

Gravel over 3 geological terraces

Grapes

Cabernet Sauvignon 90%, Merlot 8%, Cabernet Franc 2%; old Muscadelle and Castets

Farming

Organic and biodynamic, both certified in 2016, the biodynamic by Demeter

Wines

Château Durfort-Vivens; Vivens; Les Parcelles; La Nature; Blanc de Noir

In history

A fourth growth for Franck in 1824 and 1845, a second for Jullien in 1832 and for Franck in 1853

Sources: Château Durfort-Vivens, the estate · Château Durfort-Vivens, short presentation · Château Durfort-Vivens, Vivens fact sheet · CIVB, the classifications of 1855 · Château Durfort-Vivens, biodynamics and sustainability · Château Durfort-Vivens, history