Château Lafon

The château

Lafon stands at the center of the hamlet that bears its name, 3 kilometers from the village of Listrac, which sits 43 meters up between the ocean and the estuary and is called the roof of the Médoc. Its reputation was made by Dominique Douat. Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, listed a cru at Lafon under Douat in 1886, and Château Lafon under Dominique Douat among the crus bourgeois (a Médoc classification) et 1ers artisans in 1898, at 35 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels). By 1922 the guide described an estate of 60 hectares with 20 of vines, on soil partly gravel and partly clay and limestone, planted with Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and Merlot, most of the vines over 30 years old and some a century old, and called the wine very fine, full-bodied and colored, among the best of the district.

After Douat it passed to Mme Boyé, M. Flamerie de la Chapelle and M. Théron, and in 2011 M. Li took it over; it is presented with Château Barateau, in the Haut-Médoc, as Château Barateau & Lafon. Sébastien Planteur is the operations manager.

The vineyard, in the northeast of the appellation, covers 14.75 hectares in 2 groups of parcels on different soils, mostly clay and limestone with a high density of gravel, planted 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, with 20 hectares of woods around it. It has held Haute Valeur Environnementale (High Environmental Value, the French state’s environmental certification for farms) since 2019. The grapes are picked mostly by machine, sorted on the harvester and again at the cellar, fermented at 26°C with daily pumping over and kept 3 to 4 weeks in stainless steel vats; the wine then spends at least 12 months in French oak barrels, one quarter of them renewed each year, in a cellar that holds up to 250 barrels. The estate makes about 40,000 bottles a year, with a second wine, Château Les Hauts Marcieux, and it is a Cru Bourgeois in the classifications of 2020 and 2025.

At a glance

Appellation

Listrac-Médoc

Commune

Listrac-Médoc, the hamlet of Lafon

Classification

Cru Bourgeois, 2020 and 2025

Owner

M. Li, since 2011

Direction

Sébastien Planteur, operations manager

Vineyard

14.75 hectares in 2 groups of parcels, northeast of Listrac; 20 hectares of woods

Soil

Mostly clay and limestone with a high density of gravel Terroir of Listrac-Médoc →

Grapes

Merlot 80%, Cabernet Sauvignon 20%

Farming

Haute Valeur Environnementale, since 2019

Cellar

Stainless steel vats, 3 to 4 weeks; at least 12 months in French oak barrels, one quarter renewed each year

Production

About 40,000 bottles a year

Wines

Château Lafon; Château Les Hauts Marcieux

The house

Presented with Château Barateau, Haut-Médoc, as Château Barateau & Lafon

In history

Dominique Douat from 1886; 20 hectares of vines, some a century old, in 1922