Château Bonnet
The Family Home
The birthplace of Vignobles André Lurton, Château Bonnet is first and foremost a family home. Acquired in 1897 by Léonce Récapet, great-grandfather of the current owners, the Château has been the Group’s headquarters since 1953.
The estate has 201 hectares of vines in the Entre-deux-Mers and Bordeaux appellations. Its white wines, characteristic of the region, are expressive and fresh, revealing notes of citrus and exotic fruit. The reds, supple and silky, express the full richness of the fruit. The estate is increasingly committed to a global ecological approach. Beehives, an orchard, fallow land, a henhouse and biocontrol plots are concrete proof of this in the field.
The history of the Château
The Château Bonnet vineyard was established during the 16th century, under the impetus of a family of wealthy Libourne merchants, the Reyniers. These very active merchants acquired the “maison noble de Bonnet” around 1560 and implemented a major policy of land consolidation around the manor house. In the space of thirty years, the landscape around the Bonnet mansion was transformed, with splendid vineyards replacing the forested areas on the hillsides. A terroir was born…
Around 1650, the death of Pierre de Reynier, King’s Counselor and Receiver General of his finances in Guyenne, seigneur de Bonnet, left him with debts and family disunity. An open war ensued over his succession between his widow, Catherine de Moneins (who soon remarried Jean de Cadoin, master of the neighboring seigneury of Mouchac) and his eldest son. For more than thirty years, one lawsuit followed another: Bonnet was one of the main issues. Pierre de Reynier’s descendants retained the noble house of Bonnet until the winter of 1744…
On December 17, 1744, Messire Pierre de Reynier, esquire, seigneur de Barre et de Bonnet, former captain in the Normandy Regiment, sold the family property to Jean de Chillaud Desfieux, esquire, King’s Counselor. Originally from Périgord, the Chillaud Desfieux family included several mayors of Périgueux.
Owners of Bonnet until the French Revolution, the Chillaud Desfieux family brought a number of modern touches to the estate, including the cultivation of large plots of vines and the construction of a new, less austere and more comfortable manor house.
Weakened by years of persecution during the revolutionary period, Jacques Justin de Chillaud was forced to sell the Bonnet estate in 1811. It then passed into the hands of Eugène Lavignac, a wealthy landowner who had made his fortune trading with the island of Saint-Domingue.
In 1897, the estate was acquired by Léonce Récapet, André Lurton’s grandfather.
At the time, this enterprising man of character ran a major liquor factory in the neighboring commune of Branne. In just a few years, this liquor maker turned into an extraordinary winegrower. 120 hectares of vines soon covered the hillsides around the château.
At the same time, he made a number of architectural modifications to the house. Defying the laws of architecture, he added a tower, offering an extraordinary view of the surrounding countryside and gardens. A new winery was built in 1902. A magnificent French garden, designed by the famous landscape gardener Ferdinand Duprat, embellished the surroundings….
In 1953, André Lurton inherited the estate and made Château Bonnet the cradle of Vignobles Famille André Lurton.
Since his death in 2019, his children (Jacques Lurton as Chairman of the Group) and grandchildren (Mathilde de Caix-Lurton, as Managing Director) have presided over the destiny of the family estate.
Vineyard data sheet
Area
White 118 hectares
Red 84 hectares
Grape varieties
White 63% Sauvignon, 22% Sémillon, 11% Colombard, 4% Muscadelle
Red 53% Merlot, 45% Cabernet Sauvignon, 1% Cabernet Franc, 1% Petit Verdot
Soils
White Clayey-limestone, clayey-siliceous
Red Clayey-limestone, clayey-siliceous
Wine sales at the estate
Year-round Monday to Friday (9am to 11:45am – 2pm to 4:45pm)
Buy our wines
direct from the Châteaux
All our wines are available for direct sale at the estate, at the Château La Louvière boutique (with tasting facilities) and at the Château Bonnet reception (currently no tasting facilities).
At Château La Louvière, you can round off your visit with a tour of our cellars, a wine tasting session or even take part in one of our workshops (booking recommended). Located just 20 minutes from the center of Bordeaux, we welcome you to the Château all year round, Monday to Friday (including Saturdays from April to October), from 10am to 1pm and from 2pm to 5pm.
Château Bonnet
Château Bonnet - 33 420 Grézillac
(+33) 5 57 25 58 58
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