A. de Luze & Fils

The house

Alfred de Luze sailed for New York with Louis-Philippe de Luze in 1817 to import the goods of Europe. He came back and, in 1820, at 23, opened A. de Luze & Fils at 88 and 89 quai des Chartrons, in Bordeaux. The house raised, bottled and shipped the grands vins of Bordeaux, and Cognac as well. Its founder spent the years from 1822 to 1880 selling its wines and spirits abroad, and was made a baron.

The house bought at the top of the Médoc. A book on the classed growths of the Médoc printed in London in 1920 gives de Luze and Fils the monopoly of the Château Calon-Ségur crops of 1908 and 1910. It also names the house among those that bought Château Canon La Gaffelière, in Saint-Émilion. In 1920, 100 years after the opening on the quai des Chartrons, Maison A. de Luze et Fils became a joint-stock company, and in 1927 a limited liability company. The 20th century brought new owners: the British group Bowater-Ralli in 1973 and the Rémy Martin group in 1980. In 1991 the house joined other Bordeaux merchant houses to form the Grands Vins de Gironde group, GVG. On June 14, 2011 Borie Castéja Animation Participations, the holding of the Castéja family of Borie-Manoux, became the president of GVG.

In April 2018 the criminal court of Bordeaux found GVG guilty of deception over about 6,000 hectoliters of wine blended or labeled between 2014 and 2015 without the traceability the rules require. It fined the company 400,000 euros, half of it suspended, with 3,000 euros in damages to the CIVB, the Bordeaux wine council. The court placed the fault mainly with the company rather than with individuals, the company’s counsel contested any intent to deceive, and the Castéja family was not a party to the case.

In June 2024 GVG separated its trade from its bottling and logistics, and Clas Pack, beside the trading house at Saint-Loubès, now does the bottling, storage and packing. The trading house, with its brands Fleur de Luze and Héritage de Luze, works under the name of the man who opened it on the quai des Chartrons in 1820: A. de Luze.

At a glance

Kind

Négociant

Based in

Saint-Loubès

Founded

1820, by Alfred de Luze, at 88 and 89 quai des Chartrons

Owner

The Castéja family, through Borie Castéja Animation Participations, since June 14, 2011

Brands

Fleur de Luze; Héritage de Luze

In the record

The whole Calon-Ségur crop, 1908 and 1910; Canon La Gaffelière, before 1920