Château Tour Saint-Fort
A fairytale castle perched on an island, its towers rising up above an emerald green sea of vines, Château Tour Saint-Fort makes for an arresting sight. Its presentation is nothing short of immaculate, the precision of the stonework unparalleled along the length and breadth of the Médoc peninsula. The edge of every stone is razor sharp, every window frame crisply drawn, every lintel set perfectly straight. All while its impossibly clean honey-coloured limestone glows in even the gentlest of light. It looks as if it were built only yesterday.
Which, of course, it was.
Well, not quite yesterday, but the truth is Château Tour Saint-Fort is not quite what it seems. While this property has a long history, the distinctively designed and perfectly proportioned building which goes by this name today is a much more recent creation. The original buildings – or rather, what remains of them – stand close by.
And what of the wine? Always rich in colour, with a tannic build as extracted and as ambitious as these dark hues suggest, these are wines built to impress. In fact, the style of wine is as modern as the building which bears the same name.
In this profile I will explore the origins of Château Tour Saint-Fort, as well as putting the modern-day owners and wines under the microscope. First, let’s have a little history.
Origins
The estate has its origins in an ancient property the history of which can be traced as far back as 1773. At this time the land was a possession of the seigneurs of Pez; this settlement, where we find Château de Pez and Ormes de Pez, lies just 1,500 metres to the north. Then it came into the hands of the noble Calon family, originators of the modern-day Calon-Ségur.
