Château d’Yquem

Château d’Yquem might have been English. During the Middle Ages, the property belonged to the King of England when Aquitaine was still under English rule and the King was also the Duke of Aquitaine. History decided otherwise, and the Aquitaine came back under the flag of the French crown in 1453. At the end of the 18th century, Yquem was acquired by the Lur Saluces family through marriage between Françoise Joséphine de Sauvage d’Yquem and the Count Louis Amédée de Lur Saluces. Three years later, in 1788, the Count died from a fall while on horseback. The young widow took on the heavy responsibility of running the estate, but with a rare talent, making its wine famous among wine connoisseurs of the time. This included Thomas Jefferson, later to become third president of the United States of America. In 1855, the domain was ranked as Superior First Growth of Bordeaux, the only one to be so. The Lur Saluces family continued to run the estate for more than two centuries, with special mention for Alexandre Lur Saluces who even furthered the reputation of the wine.

In May 2004, Pierre Lurton took over the helm from Lur Saluces at the instigation of the luxury group LVMH / Moët Henessy which had become the main shareholder in 1999. Pierre Lurton belongs to one of the great wine families of Bordeaux, members of which run numerous prestigious estates. At the time of his nomination, he had already managed for 10 years another prestigious first growth wine estate, Château Cheval Blanc.