First listed in 1453, Domaine de Bastore was a property of the French King. It was sold to the La Montaigne family in 1711. The modern tale of Château Bastor-Lamontagne thus begun, building upon an envious historical pedigree, with viticulture becoming the estate’s core activity in the 1830s under the ownership of Joseph Eugène Larrieu (at the time, also owner of Châteaux Haut-Brion and Pick).
Château Bastor-Lamontagne is now owned by the Helfrich family which, since acquiring the property in 2018, has placed an equal focus on the past and the future, on innovation and tradition. Worthy guardians of a unique legacy, the family wishes to facilitate evolution and growth while preserving the intrinsic potential of the estate’s singular terroir.
Bastor-Lamontagne’s vineyards cover 50ha divided into 40 adjacent plots planted to Sémillon (77%), Sauvignon Blanc (20%) and Sauvignon Gris (3%), with an average vineyard age of 45 years. While the estate is implementing a long-term viticultural renovation programme, the maturity of the vines is one of Château Bastor-Lamontagne’s major assets and plays an important role in the characterful elegance of its wines.
Located in the heart of the Sauternes appellation, the estate sits on the Garonne’s second terrace, a sandy terroir with a light clay matrix and some limestone content. Each plot has different texture and gravel content, creating an intricate patchwork of plots translated into minute variations in the fruit profile and, therefore, into the complexity of the wines.
The Ciron, a left tributary of the Garonne, runs but a few hundred metres from the estate, and encourages the formation of the early morning mists essential for the development of botrytis cinerea (noble rot). Preserving this valuable natural setting has been one of the main priorities at Bastor-Lamontagne, culminating in full organic certification in 2016. Such natural factors, along with the craftsmanship and dedication of the Château’s viticulture and winemaking teams, converge to create some of the most renowned Sauternes, praised for their character and consistency, vintage on vintage.
Recognising the property’s potential to produce expressive and crisp fruit untouched by botrytis, Bastor-Lamontagne also produces two dry Sauvignon Blanc-based wines (Confidence and B de Bastor-Lamontagne), in which the finesse and vivacity of the grapes shines in all its splendour, underscored by the minerality of the terroir.
‘Nil sine Fide’ (Nothing without faith) is the motto on the estate’s coat of arms; it is with renewed faith in the potential of a unique historical and viticultural heritage that each vintage unfolds at Château Bastor-Lamontagne. By producing wines with luscious complexity balanced by a trademark mineral freshness, Bastor-Lamontagne delivers Sauternes created for the art of food pairing – perfect companions to seafood, sushi, roast chicken and cheese platters. Wines to enjoy and discover, from apéritif to dessert.
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