Château La Tour Carnet

The estate's medieval château has a tower built in 1120 and is surrounded by moats, and the estate describes it as the oldest château in the Médoc. Its vineyard was planted in 1409, the year of the first harvest. During the Hundred Years' War (1337 to 1453) the House of Foix, vassals of the King of England, owned the Château de Saint-Laurent. When Bordeaux surrendered to the King of France in 1451, Count Jean de Foix and his squire Carnet refused to submit. In 1485 Jean de Foix bequeathed the castle to Carnet, whose name it still bears. Carnet withstood a final siege in 1486, and the château was partly destroyed on the orders of the King of France. The family of Michel de Montaigne, author of the Essays and twice mayor of Bordeaux, was among its owners. The estate entered the 1855 classification as a Fourth Growth. The Thibault de Carmaing family held the property for 200 years, followed by Charles de Leutken; Leutken's grandson inherited in 1861, and a decline followed that lasted many decades. In 1962 the Lipschitz family, followed by their daughter Marie-Claire Pelegrin, began the regeneration of the estate, and Bernard Magrez acquired it in 2000.

• 1120: the château's tower was built; 1409: the vineyard was planted and the first harvest made.
• 1485: Count Jean de Foix bequeathed the castle to his squire Carnet, whose name it bears.
• 1855: classified a Fourth Growth.
• 1962: the Lipschitz family began the estate's regeneration; 2000: acquired by Bernard Magrez.

Bernard Magrez has owned the estate since 2000. He owns four Bordeaux Grands Crus Classés, Château Pape Clément (Graves), Château La Tour Carnet (Médoc), Château Fombrauge (Saint-Émilion) and Clos Haut-Peyraguey (Sauternes), as well as 42 vineyards around the world. At 23 he created his first company, William Pitters International, and he later built the brands William Peel whiskey, Tequila San José and Malesan Bordeaux wine before selling them to turn to the Grands Crus Classés. The consulting oenologists for the 2023 vintage are Michel Rolland and Julien Viaud. As of March 2022, Julien Lecourt, a plant scientist, was head of research and development at Maison Bernard Magrez.

• Owner: Bernard Magrez, since 2000; he also owns Château Pape Clément, Château Fombrauge and Clos Haut-Peyraguey.
• Consulting oenologists (2023 vintage): Michel Rolland and Julien Viaud.
• Head of research and development at Maison Bernard Magrez (as of March 2022): Julien Lecourt.

The vineyard lies in Saint-Laurent-Médoc, in the Haut-Médoc appellation. Its soils are a base of strongly calcareous clay covered by a thick layer of Günz-era gravel, and the estate points to a multiplicity of terroirs that bring great complexity to the blend. Planting density is 8,000 to 10,000 vines per hectare, and the vines behind the 2023 red average 27 years of age. The estate practises precision viticulture without CMRs or herbicides. For the 2016 red, a first leaf removal took place in mid-July on the east side and a second in mid-August on the west side, and the grapes were harvested by hand in small crates. The Reconnaissance à l'Écuyer Carnet cuvée comes from the estate's croupe, the rise at the origin of its 1855 classification. The white wine comes from Saint-Christoly-Médoc, from vines averaging 21 years of age (2023) planted at 8,000 vines per hectare.

• Soils: strongly calcareous clay under a thick layer of Günz-era gravel.
• Planting density of 8,000 to 10,000 vines per hectare; average vine age of 27 years for the 2023 red.
• Precision viticulture without CMRs or herbicides.
• The white wine comes from Saint-Christoly-Médoc.

For the red grand vin, a first sort takes place in the vineyard, followed by hand sorting on a vibrating table, destemming and densimetric sorting. The harvest is chilled in a cryogenic tunnel by spraying with liquid nitrogen and is vatted by gravity. Vinification takes place in wooden vats and small-capacity cement vats, with a cold pre-fermentation maceration at 8°C, entirely manual punching down and alcoholic fermentation at low temperature (28°C). Maceration lasts 25 to 32 days, and the wine is aged in barrels for 16 months, including 30% new barrels. For the white, the whole harvest is pressed in a pneumatic press for about 2 hours, followed by cold settling for 24 hours and alcoholic fermentation between 15°C and 18°C for about 15 days. The white is aged on fine lees for 8 to 10 months with stirring once or twice a week, and it is not pumped or filtered until bottling: all vinification and ageing operations are carried out by gravity.

• Red: sorting in the vineyard, on a vibrating table and by density; cryogenic chilling with liquid nitrogen; gravity vatting.
• Red: wooden and small cement vats, cold maceration at 8°C, manual punching down, 25 to 32 days of maceration.
• Red: 16 months in barrel, including 30% new barrels.
• White: whole-harvest pressing, fermentation at 15°C to 18°C and 8 to 10 months on fine lees, moved by gravity throughout.

The estate's wines include Château La Tour Carnet, the Haut-Médoc Grand Cru Classé in 1855 red; Château La Tour Carnet Blanc, an AOC Bordeaux white; and La Mémoire de La Tour Carnet, a Haut-Médoc red. The blend of the red grand vin varies by vintage: 60% Merlot, 37% Cabernet Sauvignon and 3% Cabernet Franc in 2016, and 75% Merlot, 22% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2% Petit Verdot and 1% Cabernet Franc in 2023. The 2023 white is 67% Sauvignon Blanc and 33% Sémillon. Maison Bernard Magrez also releases two limited cuvées from the estate: LTC5, which blends five La Tour Carnet vintages and is produced in 960 bottles, and Reconnaissance à l'Écuyer Carnet, kept in the cellar for more than five years after blending and produced in 1,600 bottles.

• Château La Tour Carnet: the Haut-Médoc red grand vin.
• Château La Tour Carnet Blanc: AOC Bordeaux white; 67% Sauvignon Blanc and 33% Sémillon in 2023.
• La Mémoire de La Tour Carnet: a Haut-Médoc red.
• LTC5 (five vintages, 960 bottles) and Reconnaissance à l'Écuyer Carnet (1,600 bottles).

Bernard Magrez has run a study of the effects of climate change on viticulture since 2013, and in 2013 the scientific centre of the Bernard Magrez vineyards planted a private collection of more than 80 grape varieties, including many old, forgotten varieties. The La Tour Carnet 2050 project aims to simulate the impact of global warming on vines and wine by 2050 and to study how different grape varieties adapt. From 2022, a system built with technologies borrowed from the aeronautical industry warms the vines of a trial plot, using electric heating cables to align them with scientists' climate estimates for 2050. A dedicated vat room of 84 temperature-controlled vats allows each variety in the study to be vinified separately. In March 2022 the trial formed part of the estate's 'Oracle' project, and the team had identified around 21 red varieties of interest, including Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Carménère, Tempranillo and Touriga Nacional.

• 2013: start of the climate change study and planting of a collection of more than 80 grape varieties.
• From 2022: heating cables on a trial plot simulate the climate expected by 2050.
• 84 temperature-controlled vats allow each variety to be vinified separately.

The estate describes the 2016 red as showing ripe black fruit such as black cherry, blackberry and cassis, with spicy notes of liquorice and black pepper, a velvety texture with well-integrated tannins, and touches of vanilla, cedar and tobacco from ageing in oak barrels. Its note on La Mémoire de La Tour Carnet cites fruity aromas marked by black fruit and berries, and power with abundant, flavourful tannins.

Primary sources (producer's own site and owner group site): https://www.chateau-latourcarnet.fr/?lang=en, https://www.chateau-latourcarnet.fr/les-vins?lang=en, https://www.chateau-latourcarnet.fr/bernardmagrez?lang=en, https://www.chateau-latourcarnet.fr/latourcarnet2050?lang=en, https://bernard-magrez.com/en/collections/vins/grands-crus-classes/chateau-la-tour-carnet/, https://bernard-magrez.com/en/vins/ecuyer-carnet/, https://bernard-magrez.com/en/products/chateau-la-tour-carnet-rouge-2023/, https://bernard-magrez.com/en/products/chateau-la-tour-carnet-rouge-2019/, https://bernard-magrez.com/en/products/chateau-la-tour-carnet-rouge-2016/, https://bernard-magrez.com/en/products/chateau-la-tour-carnet-blanc-2023/, https://bernard-magrez.com/en/products/la-memoire-de-la-tour-carnet/, https://bernard-magrez.com/en/products/ltc5/, https://bernard-magrez.com/en/products/reconnaissance-ecuyer-carnet/. Secondary sources: Decanter (Decanter Staff, last updated 28 May 2015 and 18 July 2018; Chris Mercer, published 8 March 2022). Last verified 2026-10-14. Where the producer's site and a secondary source disagree, the producer's site governs.