Margaux Focus 1: Château Durfort-Vivens

BY NEAL MARTIN | AUGUST 22, 2023

I keep abreast of the toing and froing of most major Bordeaux châteaux. Nevertheless, some estates inadvertently fall off my radar. One of those was Durfort-Vivens. Following a series of perplexing showings in blind tastings, with all the criticism that generates, combined with the estate’s eschewal of organized tastings, the Margaux estate became one that I would simply drive past en route to somewhere else. An improvement in quality in recent years urged me to schedule an appointment seeking to learn about proprietor Gonzague Lurton’s modus operandi. Then a private dinner a week later shed light upon older vintages. Lurton completed the picture with comprehensive and insightful answers to further questions, and hey presto, I had the article you are reading.

Older vintages tasted in London had perhaps fewer ups than downs.

History

Considering Durfort-Vivens is a fully-fledged second growth, its background is full of missing reels. According to early editions of Féret, the Durfort de Duras family owned the estate. When it was acquired by Mon. de Vivens in 1824, he duly appended his name, and the estate was classified a Second Growth in the 1855 Classification, which, lest we forget, makes it one rung higher than Château Palmer to this day. The estate passed to his niece, who married one Mon. Puységur and, in turn, sold it in 1866 to Mon. G. Richier and de la Mare. Given its status, it is strange that the estate became something of a hot potato, passing in quick succession from one family to another. After a short period when it was owned by Mme. F. Beaucourt et Delmée, in 1895, the 48-hectares château was sold to a négociant, Gabriel Delor.   

At this point, I hand it over to Gonzague Lurton, who replied to my questions so comprehensively that I reproduced them almost verbatim as a Q&A.

Neal Martin: Can you just confirm: Lucien Lurton, your father, bought the estate in 1961? What condition was it in? I read that the wine was actually vinified at Brane-Cantenac until 1995.

Gonzague Lurton: Yes, Pierre Ginestet called my father in 1961 as he wanted to recover part of his investment. The Ginestet and the Lurton family knew each other well as my great grandfather, Léonce Récapet, who bought Brane-Cantenac in 1928, was also the main shareholder of Château Margaux at the time. Following his death in 1944, his son François Lurton, my grandfather, accepted an offer from the Ginestet family to exchange his shares in Château Margaux (50%) for Clos Fourtet in Saint-Émilion. My father, who only had one share, didn’t want to let it go but was obliged to do so under pressure. Château Durfort-Vivens was acquired by Château Margaux in 1937, and so my family, and in particular my father, knew the property well. From 1937, most probably for economic reasons, the production of Durfort-Vivens was done entirely at Château Margaux. When my father took over Durfort-Vivens in 1961, vinification was transferred to Château Brane-Cantenac.

You have to place yourself in the context of the time when there were very little means. You had to make savings where possible. It is indeed difficult to imagine today that at that time, the owner of Château Margaux needed money and had to resolve to sell Durfort-Vivens. The first thing my father did was to rehabilitate the aging cellar, and in the 1970s, the barrel aging was carried out at Durfort-Vivens. At the same time, he also installed a vat room with twelve 100-hectoliter steel vats, which were still there when I took over in 1992. I vinified part of the 1992, 1993 and 1994 vintages at Durfort-Vivens and the rest at Brane-Cantenac. In 1995, I had a new vat room built and installed stainless steel vats. Once again, I was able to vinify Durfort-Vivens entirely at the château, probably for the first time since 1937.

[Post-script: Lucien Lurton passed away after this article was written in March 2023 with an inning of 98, leaving a huge legacy.]