Lagrange 1959-2015
BY NEAL MARTIN |
“I’m turning Japanese” announced The Vapors in their catchy 1980 New Wave classic. Part of me turned Japanese in the mid-1990s. Marinating in this alternative society for a year, I absorbed facets of its culture and societal quirks, had my brain slightly rewired by the experience. But the more you think you understand Japan, you realize the less you actually know. The West really learned about Japan via global brands that changed our lives during the 1980s technological boom: Sony, Toyota and Canon. Despite their omnipresence, Japan remains a mysterious country. Its people are friendly yet distant with their unique rituals and etiquette, their obsessive attention to detail and indecipherable language and writing. They even eat their fish raw!
Something that cannot be understood can induce fear. The unknown can be unsettling. So in 1983 when Château Lagrange, a sacred Grand Cru Classé, passed into Japanese hands, it caused ripples of consternation, outcries from die-hard Bordeaux traditionalists declaring that it was the beginning of the end.
In some ways they were correct...
It spelled the end of Lagrange making very average wine.
It was the beginning of a renaissance that has seen Lagrange becoming one of the most consistent estates on the Left Bank.
This article looks at the history of Lagrange with valuable insights courtesy of head winemaker Matthieu Bordes, followed by a complete unabridged vertical tasting that encompasses the entire era under Suntory from 1983 to the present day. This article gets a little more technical than usual, but it will hopefully give readers a better understanding of what it takes managing such a large property.
From left to right, technical director Benjamin Vimal, general director Matthieu Bordes, estate director Keiichi Shiina and PR manager Justine Memmi.
History
It is said that agriculture was present on the site of Lagrange in Gallo-Roman times, the name of the lieu-dit originating from Villa Grangia. In the Middle Ages it was a local manor that accommodated a branch of the Knights Templar that consisted of two domaines, the Maison Noble de Lagrange de Monteil in the west and Tenure de Pellecalhus in the east. Pope Boniface dissolved the Templars in 1312 but existing lieux-dits named La Chapelle and L’Hôpital give credence to these origins.
