A Jacques Lurton Quintet, 2024
The Lurton family is well-known in Bordeaux, one of its most notable members having been the late André Lurton (1924 – 2019). He was a dynamic figure who held many offices in the region, but he will possibly be best remembered for the creation of the new Pessac-Léognan appellation, during his presidency of the Syndicat Viticole de Pessac-Léognan, thereby providing a new and more prestigious home for all the high-flying estates in the northern part of the Graves appellation.
During his lifetime André Lurton gathered together a handsome collection of estates, the best-known of which is perhaps Château La Louvière (which he purchased in 1965), although the most prestigious is surely Château Couhins-Lurton (the genesis of which dates to the 1970s). Others, such as Château de Cruzeau and Château de Rochemorin, followed during the ensuing decade. As André aged, responsibility for this collection of properties was passed to his offspring, with Jacques and François Lurton taking on much of the responsibility.
Jacques Lurton
I sense Jacques Lurton (pictured below) is no less dynamic than his father, and he perhaps has a broader, more global outlook. Having realised at a young age a life in the wine business was for him he kicked off by studying oenology at Bordeaux University. Following his graduation in 1983 he worked in Australia for a couple of years before returning to Bordeaux. For a while he and his brother François managed not only the aforementioned clutch of Bordeaux properties but also a growing portfolio of wine estates in Spain and South America.
