Château Paveil de Luze

The appellation of Margaux is littered with famous names, led by Château Margaux itself, the jewel in the crown of the appellation and arguably of all Bordeaux, although I cannot fail to also mention of Château Palmer, Château d’Issan, Château Rauzan-Ségla and Château Brane-Cantenac, to name just a handful. These châteaux define what it is for a wine to be Margaux, but they are not the whole story. Like St Estèphe, at the opposite end of the Médoc peninsula, Margaux is rich in little known cru bourgeois and unclassified properties which also offer wines of elegance and typicity, not infrequently for much less outlay than their more exalted counterparts.

Château Paveil de Luze is undoubtedly one such property. Located in Soussans, the vineyards sit in the most extreme north-western corner of the Margaux appellation. During the three centuries that have passed since the estate was created, three families have held sway here, and of these it is just two – the Bretonneau family, followed most recently by the de Luze family – that have shaped the estate into what it is today. In this profile I explore the history of this under-the-radar estate, as well as its vineyards and wines.

Origins

The originator of the estate was Pierre Hosten (1656 – 1712), a notary and judge from Castelnau. It was Hosten who brought together various parcels of land not only so he and his family could live there, but so that they also had land which they could cultivate. Naturally, part of his estate he planted to vines, and he also built some small cellars where he could vinify his crop.

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