The most photographed façade in wine, and the only First Growth whose architecture rivals its bottles. Foster's cellar extension is a masterclass in how to add to perfection without touching it.
33460 Margaux-Cantenac, France
Margaux, Médoc, Bordeaux
France
Château Margaux (First Growth) · Pavillon Blanc
16th century
The 'Versailles of the Médoc' — a neo-Palladian temple down an avenue of plane trees, with a Norman Foster-designed vat room in glowing timber and glass
Come for the label archive: Picasso, Warhol, Bacon, Koons and Chagall have each designed a vintage. It is the only estate where the art collection and the wine list are the same document.
Château Mouton Rothschild, 33250 Pauillac, France
Pauillac, Médoc, Bordeaux
France
Château Mouton Rothschild (First Growth)
1853 (Rothschild acquisition)
The Museum of Wine in Art plus the Grand Chai — 100 metres of barrels lit like a nave
The name that built the Asian fine-wine market. Bofill's underground rotunda is arguably the single most beautiful room in Bordeaux, and almost nobody gets to stand in it.
33250 Pauillac, France
Pauillac, Médoc, Bordeaux
France
Château Lafite Rothschild (First Growth) · Carruades de Lafite
14th century; Rothschild from 1868
The octagonal circular cellar by Ricardo Bofill — a subterranean colonnade holding 2,200 barrels
Extremely limited; call ahead — the château has been closed for renovation and tastings redirected to sister estates
The estate that walked away from the en primeur system to sell only when its wines are ready to drink. That confidence is palpable the moment you walk the gravel of the Enclos.
27 Rte des Châteaux, 33250 Pauillac, France
Pauillac, Médoc, Bordeaux
France
Château Latour (First Growth) · Les Forts de Latour
1331 (tower); estate 17th century
The stone tower over the Gironde, fully biodynamic vineyards, and a cellar holding back vintages for a decade before release
Trade and professional visits only; no casual tourism
The oldest named claret in the world and the only non-Médoc estate in the 1855 First Growths. Samuel Pepys wrote about it in 1663 — you can taste the same hillside he did.
135 Av. Jean Jaurès, 33600 Pessac, France
Pessac-Léognan, Bordeaux
France
Château Haut-Brion rouge & blanc (First Growth)
1525
A Renaissance château now ringed by Bordeaux's suburbs — the improbable survival story of fine wine
One vine, one glass — the yield is that punishing. Standing in the vineyard while pickers make their fifth pass through the same rows explains the price better than any tasting note.
Château d'Yquem, 33210 Sauternes, France
Sauternes, Bordeaux
France
Château d'Yquem (Premier Cru Supérieur)
1593
Hilltop fortress with panoramic views over the Ciron valley mists that create the noble rot
Open seven days; book well ahead, tastings around €100
The legendary 1947 is the most mythologised bottle of the 20th century. The modern cellar, a floating white curve set in vines, is the boldest piece of architecture in Bordeaux.
1352 Route de Pomerol, 33330 Saint-Émilion, France
Saint-Émilion, Bordeaux
France
Château Cheval Blanc (Premier Grand Cru Classé A)
1832
Christian de Portzamparc's white wave-roofed cellar and rooftop terrace — a Pritzker-winner's building you can walk on top of
Strictly by appointment; occasional concerts and private events
The only First-Growth-quality property where you can taste, dine at two Michelin stars, sleep in the vines and be massaged with grape polyphenols — all without leaving the gate. The most complete luxury wine stay in France.
Château Smith Haut Lafitte, 33650 Martillac, France
Pessac-Léognan, Bordeaux
France
Château Smith Haut Lafitte rouge & blanc
1365
Estate winery plus Les Sources de Caudalie hotel, the two-Michelin-star La Grand'Vigne, and the original vinothérapie spa
Open daily 10am–7pm; the easiest great-estate stay in Bordeaux
Planted by the man who became Pope Clement V — over 700 vintages of continuity. Bernard Magrez turned it into the estate where you actually get to blend your own barrel sample rather than just admire someone else's.
216 Av. Dr Nancel Penard, 33600 Pessac, France
Pessac-Léognan, Bordeaux
France
Château Pape Clément rouge & blanc
1300
Winemaker workshops, blending sessions, 2,000-year-old olive trees and guest suites in the château itself — and it is minutes from Bordeaux airport
Open daily 10am–7pm; guided tour and tasting from around €25
Where the very idea of terroir was invented, by monks who tasted the soil plot by plot for 700 years. The presses alone are worth the drive — they are the size of houses.
Rue de la Montagne, 21640 Vougeot, France
Côte de Nuits, Burgundy
France
Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru (many producers)
Vineyard 1098; château 1551
Cistercian monastic château with four colossal 12th-century wooden wine presses, at the heart of a 50-hectare walled Grand Cru
Open to the public daily; around €12 entry
November, for the Trois Glorieuses
+33 3 80 62 86 09
30 more items in this listSign up free to see them all, with every column and every photograph.Sign up free
TheLysts
