The de Boüard family, owners of St-Emilion premier grand cru classé Château Angélus, have taken a 50% stake in Château Bellevue, a former St-Emilion grand cru classé.

‘This is a €10m investment so a considerable undertaking for the family,’ Angélus managing director Hubert de Boüard said.

The 6ha vineyard has a prime location on clay-limestone slopes surrounded by St-Emilion premiers grands crus classés Angélus, Beau-Séjour-Bécot and Beauséjour.

In 2006 Bellevue was stripped of its grand cru classé status in the latest edition of the St-Emilion classification, which is currently suspended.

The classification, however, did not take into account the considerable progress made since 2000 under the management of Nicolas Thienpont and wine consultant Stéphane Derenoncourt. Both will continue to run the property.

The de Lavaud family form the other half of the ownership.

See also:

St Emilion classification suspended indefinitely

Written by James Lawther in Bordeaux

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James Lawther MW
James Lawther MW
Decanter Magazine, Bordeaux Expert and DWWA 2019 Regional Chair for Languedoc-Roussillon

James Lawther MW is a contributing editor to Decanter as well as an independent wine writer, lecturer and tour guide based in Bordeaux. He retailed wine at Steven Spurrier's Les Caves de la Madeleine in Paris in the 1980s, and his early career also involved stints as a cellar hand in Bordeaux, Burgundy, Roussillon and Western Australia. In 1993, Lawther became a Master of Wine. He is author of The Heart of Bordeaux and The Finest Wines of Bordeaux, and has contributed to books including Dorling Kindersley’s Wines of the World, Oz Clarke’s Bordeaux and Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Wine Book.