Château Lestage-Darquier Grand Poujeaux
& Château Anthonic
(shah-toh le-stahj dark-ee-ay grond pooh zho) & (shah-toh antonick) | Bordeaux
We are pleased to introduce Château Lestage-Darquier Grand Poujeaux, a progressive, new top selection of prestige plots…
from the Cordonnier family of Château Anthonic in Bordeaux’s Médoc region. Jean-Baptiste Cordonnier and his son Théophile are leaders in the agroforestry and regenerative farming movements, which incorporate nature into the vineyard, improving biodiversity and soil health, while fighting climate change. The Cordonnier family’s meticulous organic farming strategy is complemented by their employment of progressive aging methods that respect the personality of the soils, as well as a targeted distribution plan that goes against the typical way that Bordeaux wines have been sold. Château Lestage-Darquier Grand Poujeaux will not be available on La Place de Bordeaux and is exclusively represented with guaranteed provenance in the USA by De Maison Selections.
A New Identity for Château Lestage-Darquier Grand Poujeaux
Acquired in the spring of 2022 by the Cordonnier family, the vintage marks the beginning of a new era at Château Lestage-Darquier Grand Poujeaux with a reorganization and revitalization of their vineyards. In accordance with the high standards of their vineyard work, the family performs a meticulous double selection of grapes (a process in line with the quality level of classified growths), with the goal of producing one exceptional wine from the Grand Poujeaux plateau with its distinctive Garonne gravel over limestone.
“The transformation of Château Lestage-Darquier Grand Poujeaux was the idea of my son, Théophile. He joined the family estate in 2019 and now works alongside me. He convinced me to purchase this 10 hectare gem located on one of the most beautiful terroirs of Moulis-en-Médoc.”
– Jean-Baptiste Cordonnier
Their independent philosophy is carried through on the new label, which was designed by Théophile’s brother Pierre-Louis Cordonnier (Picor). The artwork was inspired by the Château Anthonic coat-of-arms, which has two eagles fighting over grape bunches—an allegory of the competition between the Bordeaux wine merchant and the estate grower. On the label of Château Lestage-Darquier Grand Poujeaux, one eagle wins the contest and takes flight; symbolizing the evolution of the Cordonnier family with their new venture and their independence from Bordeaux norms.
Rigorous Plot Management
After the acquisition in the spring of 2022, father and son launched a strategy focused on exceptional quality and craftsmanship in order to raise the bar at both family properties, creating a completely new standard in Moulis-en-Médoc. This strategy began with a precise identification of the potential of each parcel, followed by the conversion to organic farming and agroforestry at Lestage-Darquier, a natural progression of the lessons learned over the years at Château Anthonic.
Of the 10 hectares of Château Lestage-Darquier Grand Poujeaux acquired by the Cordonnier family, only a few standout plots are reserved for its production. The surface area dedicated to the production of Château Lestage-Darquier Grand Poujeaux covers a total of just 3.5 hectares of the property, and is planted with cabernet sauvignon, merlot, cabernet franc, petit verdot, and most recently, a grafting of the white bouysselet grape over some merlot vines. After a thorough study and selection of terroirs, they separated the cabernet and merlot parcels planted exclusively on Garonne gravel soils over limestone bedrock on the Grand Poujeaux plateau. Utilizing the same level of meticulous double selection as the classified growths, they are able to select more cabernet sauvignon and bring Lestage-Darquier Grand Poujeaux closer in style to a Saint-Julien than a typical wine from their Moulis-en-Médoc appellation. These soil studies are also utilized to determine the management of the parcels, which include ditches for water management, and intra-parcel green corridors which connect all of the vineyards with hedges, trees, and ground cover.
The heart of the LDGP blend is from an old parcel of cabernet sauvignon near the Larrayaut river planted in the 1980s on gravel similar to that of Pauillac, mixed with clay. The parcel is extremely drought resistant and gives wines of length and elegance with very fine tannins, comparable to the wines of Cantenac.
The remaining 6.5 hectares of Château Lestage-Darquier Grand Poujeaux vineyards not intended for the Grand Vin have been integrated into Château Anthonic, the accompaniment to LDGP. Château Anthonic has grown from 26 to 32.5 hectares in production, benefiting from some of the gravel and limestone terroir of Grand Poujeaux, along with the clay-limestone and blue marl soils of Château Anthonic. This acquisition is a win for both estates of the Cordonnier family, simultaneously increasing the quality of Anthonic and taking Lestage-Darquier Grand Poujeaux to the top level in the region. There is great synergy between the two concepts and they benefit one another through their expanded agroforestry network in Moulis.
Grand Poujeaux Plateau – Location is Everything
The village of Moulis is located in the heart of the Médoc, on the left bank three kilometers from the Gironde estuary, halfway between Margaux and Saint-Julien. The Moulis-en-Médoc AOC is located on a narrow band stretching 7km from east to west, its vineyards protected from the harsh Atlantic winds by the Landes forest to the west. The village takes its name from the many wind and water mills that used to be found in the area.
Moulis is the smallest of the six Médoc communes but boasts a wide variety of soils and terroirs within the region—predominantly gravel soils closer to the estuary in the east of the appellation, shifting to sandy-clay plains with clay in the west. The 3.5ha of parcels selected for Château Lestage-Darquier Grand Poujeaux are planted exclusively on the easternmost side of the appellation, on the Grand Poujeaux plateau. The plateau is an ideal area, where Garonne gravel from the Gunz period (which offers exceptional drainage and superior ripening) sits directly atop the same limestone subsoils as Saint-Estèphe, Margaux, and Pauillac. In the hands of skilled winemakers like the Cordonnier family, the tiny Grand Poujeaux plateau reveals itself as one of the premier terroirs of the left-bank of Bordeaux with the capability of producing first-class wines.
Organic and Regenerative Vineyard Management through Agroforestry
Jean-Baptiste Cordonnier is one of Bordeaux’s foremost advocates for organic viticulture, and a forerunner and current leader of the French agroforestry movement. Agroforestry is an agricultural system which seeks to mimic the living soils found in forest ecosystems. As a young man, Jean-Baptiste studied agro-engineering in Belgium, focusing on water and forests, having worked on rural agricultural developments in the Congo. In 1993, he came back to his family property, Château Anthonic, and began to redress the balance of the vineyards by taking steps which progressively eliminated insecticides and chemical products that his father had been using, while establishing natural grass cover and introducing hedges to the property. Little by little, the vineyard came back to life; but Jean-Baptiste realized it was not enough, and began to take a much more radical, holistic approach with the introduction of agroforestry.
In 2018, Jean-Baptiste founded the Vignerons du Vivant association with 12 other member estates, among them Châteaux Latour, Lafon-Rochet, and Paloumey, who recruit and train young people without jobs, teaching them basic vineyard skills, focused on agro-ecology vineyard management.
“I think we have to build an integral ecology that includes environmental respect, happiness for people we work with, and profitable business”
– Jean-Baptiste Cordonnier
The vineyards of Château Anthonic are virtually all in a single contiguous geographical area, criss-crossed by a network of ditches, bordered by thickets and groves, and abutted by hardwood forest. Since 2010, Jean-Baptiste has been planting hedgerows along the ditches between the vineyards (which he describes as the first step in the agroforestry chain), creating wildlife corridors which connect the wooded areas, providing uninterrupted passageways for the fauna. With each replanting of vines they remove two rows to introduce a row of deciduous trees (linden, black poplars, elms, maples, hawthorns, holm oaks, white oaks, dogwoods, and wild apple trees) for every 20 rows of vines.
At the beginning of June, the edges of the ditches see the blooming of the Ophrys, or “bee orchids.” During harvest, the autumn orchid Spiranthes flowers regularly in between the vines, along with many other species of orchids and wildflowers. These are signs of a healthy natural habitat that Jean-Baptiste was looking for.
One of the key benefits of the forested areas (the second step in the agroforestry chain, after hedges) is to provide adequate shade to the water in the ditches so that plant and animal life may flourish. And flourish they do: their vines are a natural refuge for all sorts of animals: burrowing owls, hoopoes, harriers, falcons, partridges, hares, garter snakes, frogs, toads, and newts can all be found throughout the property.
The birds, bats, and insects in the hedges and trees are natural predators of vineyard pests like moths. The trees are vital for the bat colonies, which provide an important service as natural pest deterrents. Additionally, the trees and groundcover result in the ground temperature near the vines being as much as 10 degrees cooler than vines planted on bare soil. This factor is important with the rising temperatures in Bordeaux, allowing them to produce wines of exceptional elegance and grace. Additionally, the mycelia which inhabit the bases of trees make contact with the vines, creating a network to share information, water and minerals through their networks and roots.
The third component of their agroforestry regime is year-round soil coverage with light and infrequent soil work. The Cordonnier family manages the mixture of plants and grasses (legumes, crucifers, and cereals) that they use to cover their soils between the vine rows by “rolling” the plant cover in late spring. Rolling is not mowing, nor is it shredding. The roller breaks the plant by pinching it at the base, thus causing it to dry out naturally and pass through an intermediate stage of mulch cover that continues to protect the soil from drought, enriching it with organic matter as it degrades. Seeding for the next year is done immediately following harvest.
They are also experimenting with a method of vine training known as “braiding”, rather than trimming. The braiding concept posits that the tip, or apex, of a shoot is very important. From bud-break to flowering, the apex of the vine retains the “memory of the previous season”, such as weather and drought conditions. Each apex is then the “organizer” of the branch it directs, and will trigger the appropriate chemical responses in the event of aggression from weather or pests. Followers of this philosophy believe that by trimming the vine and removing the apexes, one deprives the rootstock of precious data from the plant.
Braiding allows the practitioner to domesticate the vine without cutting it. It involves taking two groups of strands and, by tying a simple knot, forms a bridge over the wire. By braiding the vine, bridging it over the wire and bending it towards the ground, the practice causes a natural slowdown in the vine’s growth, while new leaves will accumulate at the top of the wire and not in the sensitive lower area of the grape bunches.
Jean-Baptiste and Théophile are now applying the experience and knowledge in agroecology and agroforestry they have mastered at Anthonic (officially certified organic since the 2019 vintage) to their new property at Lestage-Darquier Grand Poujeaux. The conversion at LDGP to organic viticulture and agroforestry began immediately with its purchase in 2022. This was aided by the exceptional quality of the terroir, combined with the existing trees and soil work carried out by the previous owners (the Bernard family, who had already ceased chemical treatments and were certified by Terra Vitis), as well as the density of vine plantation identical to that of Château Anthonic (7000 vines/ha). These undeniable assets gave the project a head start, allowing the Cordonniers to hit the ground running and attain the highest quality from their first vintage. They have systematically designed their new vineyard plantations so that there are trees planted in the middle and at the edges of the plots. As of 2022, they have planted more than four kilometers of hedges that crisscross their vineyards from Château Anthonic to Lestage-Darquier Grand Poujeaux.
Innovative Vinification and Aging Methods
Lestage-Darquier Grand Poujeaux is now vinified and aged at Château Anthonic in a barrel room exclusively dedicated to its elévage. The Cordonnier family solely purchased the vineyards of Lestage-Darquier, not their buildings nor winemaking facility. This allowed them to not only completely change the management and destiny of the individual plots, but also to create an entirely new blend and identity for their new cuvée from the very best parts of the Grand Poujeaux terroir. Thus, from its birth in the 2022 vintage, Lestage-Darquier Grand Poujeaux is an entirely different wine than previous vintages one might find on the market from the former owners, the Bernard family. The Cordonnier family is taking the property to the next level and uncovering the hidden potential of these Moulis-en-Médoc vineyards.
Lestage-Darquier Grand Poujeaux was conceived as a wine that can be enjoyed in its youth, yet is also imbued with the ability to age and improve gracefully in bottle for decades to come, as a top example of the special characteristics of the Grand Poujeaux plateau, with a limited production averaging just 14,500 bottles.
Plots are handpicked in small crates at their ideal ripeness, and each plot is vinified separately. Vinification is by parcel and variety in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks. 60% of Lestage-Darquier Grand Poujeaux is aged in new 500L demi-muids of top quality French oak and 40% is aged in 750L TAVA terracotta amphorae. The objective of this atypical Bordeaux maturation is to express the personality of that year’s harvest, with the length of the élevage determined by the attributes of the vintage; the powerful 2022 was aged for 15 months. This first vintage is a blend of 53% merlot and 47% cabernet sauvignon, and the 2023 will be even more cabernet sauvignon dominant, comprising around 90% of the blend with the remainder being merlot.
The Cordonnier family has put as much thought, energy, and attention to detail into the packaging and sales of LDGP as they put into their vineyards.
They have sourced an attractive dark bottle that weighs just 450g, quite a bit lighter than the standard 550g Bordeaux bottle, which is in line with their commitment to agroforestry, which aims to fix more carbon. Glass, through its manufacture and transport, is one of the most carbon-intensive components of a wine estate, and reducing the weight of their bottle lowers their carbon impact. They have also chosen long, premium organic Diam corks to ensure the wine will be protected for its voyage for many years to come.
The family artist Picor expanded the story of the label (itself printed on recycled paper with non-toxic ink) with the image branded on the wood box for LDGP, a work of art in itself, which they strongly encourage the consumer to re-use. Here, two eagles perform their dramatic sky dance, an impressive sight the Cordonniers witness from time-to-time over their vineyards. Additionally, the first edition of 2022 LDGP was shipped with a special limited-edition Picor art print of a large-scale painting done in the winery. Beyond mere value-adds, these elements reinforce the deeply personal connection this family has to this project, the land, and their committed stewardship of it.
Finally, the family has taken a brave and progressive step in their sales philosophy which is befitting of such an ambitious project and premium wine. They have gone against the traditional, byzantine Bordeaux distribution system of courtiers and negociants, and have instead chosen to export their wines to customers in the US through a singular national importer, ensuring impeccable provenance and cold-chain traceability. De Maison Selections is proud to add Lestage-Darquier Grand Poujeaux to our growing book of artisanal Bordeaux producers who are breathing new life into a wine region desperately in need of fresh ideas and new inspiration. For us, LDGP represents new perspectives in crafting the Bordeaux of the future and we are thrilled to be the first to bring these exciting new wines to your table.
