Chateau Cheval Blanc, the Premier Grand Cru Classe property in St-Emilion, is to build a new, ‘contemporary’ winery next year.

According to the chateau’s director, Pierre Lurton, the plans will be finalised over the next few months and will include a new vinification room, winery, a barrel cellar, tasting room and landscaped gardens.

‘[We] will not begin construction until 2010 or 2011. But we know that it will be very contemporary, and quite unlike anything else in Saint Emilion today,’ Lurton told decanter.com.

He insisted the new buildings would be ‘fully integrated into the surrounding landscape’. The finished project is due to be open for wine tourists.

The architect for the project is Christian de Portzamparc, who designed the LVMH Tower in New York and is currently working on the 90,000m2 Cidade de Musica concert hall and opera house in Rio de Janeiro.

Cheval Blanc is, along with Chateau Ausone, the only Premier Grand Cru Classe A chateau in St-Emilion. It is jointly owned by Bernard Arnault (of LVMH) and Belgian financier Albert Frere.

Written by Jane Anson in Bordeaux

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Jane Anson
Jane Anson

Jane Anson was Decanter’s Bordeaux correspondent until 2021 and has lived in the region since 2003. She writes a monthly wine column for Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post, and is the author of Bordeaux Legends: The 1855 First Growth Wines (also published in French as Elixirs). In addition, she has contributed to the Michelin guide to the Wine Regions of France and was the Bordeaux and Southwest France author of The Wine Opus and 1000 Great Wines That Won’t Cost a Fortune. An accredited wine teacher at the Bordeaux École du Vin, Anson holds a masters in publishing from University College London, and a tasting diploma from the Bordeaux faculty of oenology.

Roederer awards 2016: International Feature Writer of the Year