Ulysse Cazabonne

The house

Jean-Paul Gardère, Jean Cordier and Henri Martin, members of the Commanderie du Bontemps, the wine brotherhood of the Médoc, founded Ulysse Cazabonne in 1976. In 1989 John Kolasa, then commercial director of Château Latour, took over its management, and he ran it for 24 years, until 2013.

Chanel, the owner of Château Rauzan-Ségla, bought the house in 1994 and moved it to Margaux, beside the château. Its 2 partners are Château Rauzan-Ségla and an American company, Versailles International. In 1998 the house opened a wine shop at the entrance to Margaux, with about 500 wines. The estates around it grew: Château Canon, a first growth of Saint-Émilion, came in 1996, and its neighbor Château Berliquet in 2017. In 2026 the Wertheimer family, the owners of Chanel, grouped their wine estates under a shared name, Les Vignobles.

François Dugoua, its commercial director, succeeded John Kolasa as managing director in 2013. The house trades the classed growths of Bordeaux, and in 2025 it sold about 60 million euros of wine, with 53 employees. In February 2026 it unveiled Alba by Tertre with Château du Tertre, in Margaux: a white Vin de France, from the 2024 vintage.

At a glance

Kind

Négociant

Based in

Margaux-Cantenac, beside Château Rauzan-Ségla

Founded

1976, by Jean-Paul Gardère, Jean Cordier and Henri Martin

Owner

Chanel, since 1994

Direction

François Dugoua, managing director, since 2013

Brands

Alba by Tertre, with Château du Tertre, 2026