Vineyards in Pauillac — 10 of Our Favourites

The fact that wine is produced here is all thanks to the efforts of Baron Philippe, who introduced "entire château bottling" in 1924 and built an impressive 100m barrel hall.

In 1974, its wine was formally classified as Premier Cru. The château has a private museum of wine in art and offers tours with wine tasting.

The museum and gallery created by Baron Philippe de Rothschild and his wife Pauline, inaugurated in 1962 by André Malraux, features paintings, porcelain, ceramics, glassware, ivories, bronzes, sculptures, jewellry and tapestries. Three millennia of precious objects related to wine are gathered there. The tour is included with the discovery of the caves.

Château de Calon was the property of the famous Alexandre de Ségur, but in 1778 he gave it to the family Dumoulin, who planted vines in 1815. In 1855, the wines were classified Deuxième Cru in the official classification

Since the acquisition of Montrose in 2006, Martin and Olivier Bouygues have launched an extensive renovation of the site with environmental objectives. The brothers intend to make Montrose a model and showcase for new technologies for sustainable development.

This chateau, currently under the ownership of the Merlaut family, yields not only the famous Cru Classé, classified in 1855, but also a second red wine.

The estate can be visited, and they offer a wide variety of tours and tastings. The essential tour includes a visit to the castle's tower, the vines, winemaking facilities and wine tasting. You can also walk through their vast estate through the white path, learning more about the cultivation of grapes. They also offer pairings of their wines with cheese or chocolate, tastings of their vintages, wine tasting and cookery courses, and a harvest workshop sharing the table with grape pickers. Additionally, they organise events.

The present buildings were built in the 19th century, and it was originally owned by a noble family, members of the Bordeaux parliament. In 1903 it was purchased by the Cuvelier family, wine merchants from the north of France, who made the estate what it is today.

This historical estate's history goes back to the late 17th century, when it was founded by Pierre Desmezures de Rauzan, a major wine merchant and steward of the prestigious Latour and Margaux estates who bought vines close to the former. They were part of his daughter Thérèse's dowry, who married Baron Jacques Pichon Longueville in 1694.

The imposing chateau was built in 1851 in a romantic Renaissance style. In 1855, the wine was classified Second Cru Classé. The estate was totally renovated in 1988 after an architectural competition. As well as the Second Cru Classé, they produce another two reds.

The stunning château's entrance, with its grand arched gate, stands out as an example of a mixed architectural background. The founder, Louis-Gaspard d'Estournel, had exotic pagodas erected over his cellar to celebrate his overseas conquests, which included exports to India. The estate has belonged to Michel Reybier since 2000.

They produce Saint-Estèphe appellation reds in the Grand Cru class, as well as Cos d'Estournel white from Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon grapes, and a reasonably new Goulée wine falling under the generic Médoc appellation.

Legend has it that Jean-Louis Nogaret de la Valette, the Duke of Epernon and Admiral of France, was all-powerful and that boats passing before his château had to lower their sails as a sign of allegiance. Hence the name "Baisse-Voile" (lowering of sails), which was to become the name Beychevelle and the emblem of the château: the ship with a prow in the shape of a griffin guarding Dionysus' cellar.

The classical château was built in the 17th century, reconstructed by the Marquis de Brassier in 1757, and extended by the Heine family at the end of the 19th century. It has an imposing façade topped with a majestic triangular pediment.

They produce Grand Cru Classé Saint-Julien AOC wines as well as Saint-Julien and Haut-Médoc AOCs.

The oldest document mentioning Latour dates from 1331 and is an authorisation granted to Gaucelme de Castillon by Lord Pons to build a fortified tower in the parish of Saint-Maubert. At the end of the 16th century, this château was already producing wine. By 1729, a barrel of Latour wine was worth 13 times more than the average bottle of Bordeaux wine.

Since 1993 the owner of the estate is François Pinault. The winery underwent a total renovation, including the creation of a new tasting room

The 78 hectares of vineyards are varied, some more than a hundred years old. About the 80% is Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Merlot, and 2% Cabernet Blanc and Petit Verdot. They create three wines: Le Grand Vin made solely from old vines in the original 47-hectares Enclos, Les Forts de Latour with a higher proportion of Merlot, and Le Pauillac de Château Latour, all red wines.

Although there are records of the Bages territory as far back as the 16th century, the history of wine production in the area really began in the 18th century. From 1749 to 1824, the vineyard was owned by Thomas Lynch, the son of an Irishman from Galway who worked as a merchant in Bordeaux. He managed the land wisely and produced high quality wines under the name of ''Cru de Lynch''. As part of the prestigious 1855 Classification, for the Exposition Universelle de Paris, his wine would soon be classified as one of the fifth growths. In the 1930's, General Félix de Vial, a descendant of the Cayrou family which then had the estate, leased the vineyard to Jean-Charles Cazes, ancestor of the current owners.

Lynch-Bages' old vat-house represents a rare example of traditional winemaking equipment the Médoc area. Its slatted flooring which introduced the advantages of gravitational design now used in modern vat-houses, was invented by Skawinski in 1850. The vat-house is open for visits and will transport you to another era.

Jacques de Ségur was credited with the planting of the Lafite vineyard in the 1670s and in the early 1680s. From the early 18th century, Lafite found its market in London. It appeared in the London Gazette of 1707 as being “sold at public auctions in the City of London, after being offloaded from foreign merchant ships seized by British corsairs as well as by the vessels of the Royal Navy”.

Its circular cellar room was constructed under the supervision of the architect Ricardo Bofill and inaugurated in 1987.