Château La Louvière: Vineyards
The estate lies on the avenue de Cadaujac, the road that runs roughly north and east out of Léognan towards Cadaujac. Its rather illustrious neighbours include Château Haut-Bailly directly to the south, and along the road a little in the opposite direction lies Château Carbonnieux.
Across to the east, beyond the trees, sits Château Smith-Haut-Lafitte. That Château La Louvière is surrounded by such highly regarded classed growth properties says something for its soils, and their potential for making great wines.
Today the vineyards of Château La Louvière amount to 78 hectares, a significant increase since I first penned this profile, when the vineyard stood at a little less than 62 hectares. Of the current plantings, with 13 hectares are for the white varieties, a figure unchanged in recent times, while 65 hectares are planted to red, up from the 48 hectares described two decades ago. The former is mostly Sauvignon Blanc, 96% of the total in fact, André Lurton having long favoured this variety, to the exclusion of other white cultivars (this is why most Vignobles André Lurton wines have been pure Sauvignon Blanc for so many years). Jacques Lurton is turning back towards Semillon just a little though, so there is some planted, a single parcel on the south side of the château which accounts for just 4% of the white vineyard/ This variety has not made it into the blend at the time of writing.
