Château de Lamarque

The seigneury of Lamarque takes its name from la marche (meaning “the marches”, reflecting its location on the border of the province of Guyenne).

Château de Lamarque is a delightful Haut-Médoc property which is situated on the left bank of the Gironde, to the north of Margaux, very close to the river. The owners of de Lamarque, Pierre-Gilles and Marie-Hélène Gromand d’Evry are determined to make the best Haut-Médoc wine possible here and have done their utmost to achieve this goal. 

The Château's vineyards lie in three distinctive plots each on a gravel mound. One parcel lies within Lamarque village, just behind the church. A second is opposite Château Malescasse, further south, and then there is a sizeable parcel to the west of the road north. This part of Château de Lamarque borders Moulis and counts Châteaux Poujeaux, Maucaillou and Chasse-Spleen amongs its neighbours

The vineyards covers thirty-five hectares, planted on alluvial gravel with a sub-soil of clay, sandstone and red gravels, deep and well-drained. The varietal planting is 45% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot but the proportion of each in the finished wine will vary every vintage, dependent both on the conditions of the harvest and on the percentage of vin de presse used. It is worth noting that since 1998 the proportion of Cabernet Franc has gradually been reduced at Château de Lamarque in favour of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, for qualitative reasons. Recently the blend has been around 53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 42% Merlot and 5% Petit-Verdot, with the Cabernet Franc going into the property’s second wine.

Recognising that there had been something of a laissez-faire approach to vineyard management in the past, and that the quality of the harvest and the nurturing of the vines is essential to the finished wine, Marie-Hélène took steps to improve vineyard practices. Production has been savaged under her jurisdiction as she has introduced an extremely rigorous regime of crop thinning. Generally, when we meet at the end of a long day’s tasting, black-toothed and grim, we are greeted by Marie-Hélène looking wonderfully glamorous. It is hard to imagine her out amongst the vines yet she is a demon with a set of secateurs. Pierre-Gilles sometimes winces as he relates how low the production has been in some years… yet the results show in the concentration of successive Château de Lamarque vintages. 

Having decided to concentrate on the vineyard, questions inevitably arise as to how to maximise the quality of the crop, while respecting and safeguarding the land for future generations. Château de Lamarque leans ever closer towards organic viticulture and for fifteen years the Gromand d’Evrys have exercised a revolutionary viticultural system devised by Jean-Pierre Cousinié. This involves researching, monitoring and assessing the vines from sub-soil through to the grapes. A great deal of painstaking work and investment has gone into plotting a minutely detailed map of the vineyard, parcel by parcel, which has enabled a much greater understanding of the diversity of soils and how best to look after the vines. Any treatments used are balanced and very precise. The vines are healthier, more resistant to disease without recourse to chemicals, and better able to await later harvests so that full phenolic maturation can be achieved. The results are already exciting and they now underpin the future planting programme of the Château. Cabernet Franc, deemed too capricious, will give way to increased proportions of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and an elevated 12% to 15% of Petit Verdot.

Whilst stressing the importance of the vineyard, Pierre-Gilles has also allowed himself some new toys. New cellars have been installed, with a fully computerised temperature control system. Fermentation takes place in large concrete vats obscured behind a wooden shell. The cap is submerged during fermentation and extraction is lightly handled. The finished wine is then aged in oak, up to one third of which is new – highly skilled coopers have also been engaged. Father and son team Jacques and Eric Boissenot are consultants, well known for their work in headline properties such as Lafite, Margaux and Léoville-Barton. 

Château de Lamarque is fortunate in its proprietors: Marie-Hélène and Pierre-Gilles are unstinting in their push towards quality. Now only the climate lies in the lap of the gods. The efforts of Marie-Hélène and Pierre-Gilles have already reaped rewards and Château de Lamarque is producing ever-improving wines, consistent with the vintages.

Château de Lamarque has witnessed a lot of history. Used as a fortress to defend the Médoc against Norman invaders, it takes its name from the French term for a border bastion – the marches. The original property dates back to the 11th century but the present château was built in the 14th century, with its dungeon, battlements and crenulated walls. There has been an illustrious and varied line of inhabitants at Château de Lamarque throughout the centuries, including King Henry V, several governors of Guyenne and the Duke of Epernon. In 1841, the Count de Fumel acquired the property, and it has been passed down through the generations to the current owners. Pierre-Gilles Gromand d’Evry is the great-great-grandson of the Count de Fumel, a family steeped historically in the world of great wine. Both highly-qualified lawyers, Pierre-Gilles and Marie-Hélène have thrown themselves wholeheartedly into Château de Lamarque, Marie-Hélène on the vineyard side, Pierre-Gilles in the cellar and both are heavily involved in promoting their wines.