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History
Milestones since 1953 ...
Wine : "Notre raisin d'être"...
Our corporate history is inseparable from that of a great family of Bordeaux winegrowers, the Lurtons , who have strived for excellence in their Bordeaux wines for decades, as well as in other great terroirs around the world.
This family's passion for viticulture goes back a long way.
Château Bonnet and its vineyard around 1915
Their ancestors, the Récapets, came from several small parishes near the famous village of Saint-Emilion. Millers in the mid 17th century, they were also winegrowers in their spare time like many others country dwellers at that time.
Léonce Récapet, the patriarch...
Léonce Récapet
Two centuries later, after marrying into other local families, the Récapets moved several km south of Saint-Emilion to Branne, on the banks of the Dordogne, a large busy market town.
Jean-François Récapet, called "Léonce", was born there in 1858. He is responsible for the family's passion for fine wine. As an adult, he took over a small liqueur factory founded several years previous by his father and uncle. They helped to show him how to make the most of his natural curiosity and lively intelligence. In fact, he learned more from them than he would have from years of study... He ended up taking over and modernizing the distillery, applying modern marketing methods before their time. Forging solid commercial links, he also increased the range to include rum, wine flavoured with cinchona, fruit syrups, etc. The small family firm prospered.
In 1894, Léonce married Emma Thibeaud, the daughter of a winegrower in Moulon whose family included a number of coopers. Once again, viticulture was in the family genes.
In 1890, in the middle of the Bordeaux phylloxera crisis, Léonce Récapet, nevertheless took his courage in both hands and bought two small estates, Bélair and Montremblant, hoping for better days to come.
In 1897, he acquired Château Bonnet , in Grézillac, with 47 hectares of vines and meadows... The estate was in poor condition, but this did not discourage him. On the contrary, he saw this as a challenge to match his abilities. This avant-gardiste viewed Bonnet as a wonderful opportunity to experiment with replanting and selecting the best grape varieties for each vineyard plot. He built new cellars in 1902 and made use of steampower to help during the vintage.
Léonce read a great deal and kept up to date with the latest grapegrowing and winemaking techniques, adopting the best ones.
He married Emma Thibeaud and they had three children: Marie, André and Denise.
The couple placed there greatest hopes in André, who was sent to study at the International Agricultural Institute in Beauvais, famous for training the best managers in the field. War broke out with Germany just as he finished his studies as an agricultural engineer, and he was inducted into the army. He died at the battle of Verdun in spring 1916, brutally cutting short an extremely promising career.
François Lurton, Denise Récapet and their children: expertise perpetuated to the next generation
Denise Récapet
Léonce's youngest child, Denise Récapet, inherited everything that had belonged to her father. In 1923, she married 1923, a local man, François Lurton, whose family roots were in central France (the Berry). The young couple lived in Château Bonnet and managed the estate along with Léonce Récapet.
In 1925, the family bought Château Brane-Cantenac, in the Médoc, a second growth in the 1855 classification. A few years later, Léonce became a shareholder in the illustrious Château Margaux..
François Lurton
The family's happiness would have been complete if Denise had not died in 1934. She left behind four young orphans: André, born in 1924 , Lucien in 1925, Simone in 1929 and Dominique in 1932. However, the family's mourning eventually came to an end and life continued. Léonce closely managed the estate that would come into his grandchildren's hands upon his death in 1943. His son-in-law, François Lurton, assisted him until Dominique turned 18 in 1953.
At that time, the family vineyard holdings were divided among Denise's four children. André, the oldest child, kept Château Bonnet. Lucien inherited Brane-Cantenac and Dominique received Château Reynier. The torched had been passed... as well as the passion for winegrowing that motivated Léonce Récapet throughout his life...
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