Château Lagrange

The château

Vines went in at Lagrange at the start of the 16th century, and its standing is older than the classification: Thomas Jefferson ranked it a third growth in his own list of 1787. Jean-Valère Cabarrus rebuilt the château from 1790, and William Franck, whose Traité sur les vins du Médoc first appeared in 1824, gave the same rank and a third growth’s price, 1,500 to 1,800 francs the tonneau (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels), to an estate he filed under a name nobody uses now, Branes-Arbouet, with Cabarrus as proprietor. It sold to Brown in 1832 for 650,000 francs, and in 1842 for 775,000 to the Comte Duchâtel, Louis-Philippe’s minister of the interior, who had Visconti draw the Tuscan tower of 1845. By 1850 it was the largest producer in Saint-Julien, at 220 tonneaux in the count of the English writer Charles Cocks, and in 1855 the brokers made it a third growth.

The vineyard is 107 hectares of red vines in one piece and 11 of white, in 103 plots on 2 rises of Günz gravel, with some 40 hectares of park, woods and a lake around the house. The reds are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot; the whites Sauvignon Blanc, Sauvignon Gris and Sémillon.

When Keizo Saji, the son of Suntory’s founder, bought Lagrange in 1983, the third growth was in decline. Suntory put money into the vines, the cellars and the team, and in my view turned an underperforming estate into one of the steadiest in Saint-Julien; the 1985, which I tasted in October 2025, had the classic charm of the commune, cedar, cassis and a silky texture. Matthieu Bordes and his team run it today, with Stéphane Leboucher as cellar master. Les Fiefs de Lagrange is the second wine. Les Arums de Lagrange, the white, is sold as Bordeaux Blanc, since Saint-Julien is an appellation for red wine only, and the 2023, tasted in May 2026, carries the same precision as the reds. Pagus de Lagrange and Les Fleurs du Lac complete the range.

At a glance

Appellation

Saint-Julien

Classification

Troisième Cru Classé 1855; Michelin Guide, 1 grape (2026)

Owner

Suntory, since 1983

Direction

Matthieu Bordes; Stéphane Leboucher, cellar master

Vineyard

107 hectares of red in one piece and 11 of white, in 103 plots

Soil

2 rises of Günz gravel Terroir of Saint-Julien →

Grapes

Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot; for the white, Sauvignon Blanc, Sauvignon Gris, Sémillon

Wines

Château Lagrange; Les Fiefs de Lagrange; Les Arums de Lagrange, white; Pagus de Lagrange; Les Fleurs du Lac

In history

A third growth for Thomas Jefferson in 1787 and for William Franck in 1824