Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey

The château's porch and wall towers were built in the 13th century from very old stone from the village of Bommes, and the oldest timbers in its roof date back to 1431. The vineyard's Maisons Rouges plot was a well-known stopping place in Roman times. The first known owner, Raymond Peyraguey, built a fortified keep around Peyraguey and began cultivating vines in 1618. On 17 July 1742 the estate was bought by Nicolas Pierre de Pichard, president of the Bordeaux parliament, who expanded the vineyard to nearly 30 hectares. On 22 June 1796 it was sold at auction to Mr Lafaurie and Mr Mauros, and Mauros gave up his portion to Pierre Lafaurie not long after. In the 1855 classification Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey was named a Premier Cru Classé; the estate's own history records it as second in the list. In 1865 Count Duchâtel, a former Minister of the Interior, modernised the winery and renovated the château in Hispanic-Byzantine style. In 2014 the Suez group sold the estate to Silvio Denz, who commissioned a study of its history from the historian Roland Kissling. Silvio Denz, born in Basel, created the perfume company Art & Fragrance, now the Lalique Group, in 2000 and bought the Alsace crystal factory in 2008. He invested in Bordeaux in 2005 with Château Faugères, Château Péby Faugères and Château Cap de Faugères, and Lafaurie-Peyraguey completed his portfolio in 2014. In 2015 he joined forces with the estate's advisor Denis Dubourdieu and his family, and the dry white wines formerly made at Lafaurie-Peyraguey were reborn.

• Porch and wall towers from the 13th century; the oldest roof timbers date to 1431
• 1618: Raymond Peyraguey begins cultivating vines
• 1742: bought by Nicolas Pierre de Pichard, who expanded the vineyard to nearly 30 hectares
• 1796: sold at auction to Mr Lafaurie and Mr Mauros; Mauros soon gave up his portion to Pierre Lafaurie
• 2014: the Suez group sold the estate to Silvio Denz

The Vignobles Silvio Denz team page lists Silvio Denz as owner, Vincent Cruege as director of operations for Vignobles Silvio Denz, Yannick Laporte as vineyard manager at Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey and Simon Deleporte as cellar master. The estate's 2024 en primeur sheet names Simon Deleporte as head winemaker at Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey, and its technical sheet names Valérie Lavigne as consultant oenologist.

• Silvio Denz: owner (team page, October 2026)
• Simon Deleporte: head winemaker (2024 en primeur sheet)
• Yannick Laporte: vineyard manager (team page, October 2026)
• Valérie Lavigne: consultant oenologist (technical sheet)

Lafaurie-Peyraguey's vineyard lies on Sauternes' high gravel terrace, 70 m above sea level, on high ground just outside the village of Bommes and next to Château d'Yquem. Its plots are spread across the four villages of Bommes, Sauternes, Fargues and Preignac. The L'Enclos and Les Maisons Rouges plots form the historic heart of the terroir, on gravel from the Quaternary period deposited more than 600,000 years ago over a substratum of Aquitanian limestone; the other plots lie near the classified growths Yquem, Suduiraut, Guiraud, Rieussec and d'Arche. The technical sheet gives the soils as silica-gravel and gravelly clay; the estate presents them as a mosaic of gravel soil for finesse, clay soil for richness and limestone soil for minerality. Vine density is 6,500 to 9,000 vines per hectare, the average vine age is 40 years and the oldest plots were planted in 1926. The historic plots are managed under principles of organic agriculture and ploughed using horses. Cultivation relies on short fan pruning, soil tilling and leaf thinning by hand, with no chemical herbicides, and the estate is certified HVE3. Since Denz's arrival the estate has made a drastic selection of the highest-quality plots and begun a gradual conversion to organic growing.

• Grape varieties: 93% Sémillon, 6% Sauvignon, 1% Muscadelle
• Historic plots: L'Enclos and Les Maisons Rouges
• Average vine age 40 years; oldest plots planted in 1926
• Certified HVE3; no chemical herbicides

Yields are small, and grapes are taken in successive rounds of selective picking so that each is harvested at an advanced stage of ripeness. The technical sheet's winemaking entry gives 18 to 30 days in fine-grained French oak barrels, 40-70% new, with fermentation at between 17°C and 23°C in an air-conditioned, humidity-controlled winery. Maturation lasts 18 to 29 months, with 40-70% in new French oak barrels. A renovation programme carried out by the previous owner completely restored the winery buildings and the château. The 2024 vintage shows the method in a single year: the wine is 100% Sémillon, the sweet-wine harvest began on 18 September and lasted a month, the yield was 12 hl/ha, fermentation took 20 days in 225-litre French oak barrels and maturing ran 9 months in French oak barrels and 9 months in stainless steel vats, for a production of 28,000 bottles.

• Winemaking: 18 to 30 days in fine-grained French oak barrels, 40-70% new; fermentation at 17°C to 23°C
• Maturation: 18 to 29 months
• 2024: 100% Sémillon, 12 hl/ha, 28,000 bottles

The estate makes two Sauternes and two Bordeaux whites. Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey is the grand vin, and La Chapelle de Lafaurie-Peyraguey is the Sauternes second wine, which has always borne the name of the château's most iconic location. The dry whites are Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey Grand vin blanc sec and its second wine, Lys de Lafaurie-Peyraguey. The château's boutique sells a vertical selection of the grand vin from 1999 to 2023.

• Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey (Sauternes, grand vin)
• La Chapelle de Lafaurie-Peyraguey (Sauternes, second wine)
• Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey Grand vin blanc sec (Bordeaux white)
• Lys de Lafaurie-Peyraguey (Bordeaux white, second wine)

Lafaurie-Peyraguey attributes its wines' identity to four elements: the terroir between the Garonne and Ciron rivers with its gravelly-sandy soil, a unique microclimate, the botrytis cinerea fungus (noble rot) and the predominant grape variety, Sémillon. The estate describes the grand vin as 'concentrated, well balanced, sophisticated, airy and taut, with a beautiful expression of citrus fruit and acacia flowers enhanced by a touch of mint', the Grand vin blanc sec as 'powerful, mineral, concentrated, lively, with a pure expression of fruit' and La Chapelle as 'fruity, well balanced, delicious, lively'.

To celebrate Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey's 400th anniversary, a Lalique hotel and restaurant opened at the château in June 2018, bringing together wine, crystal, gastronomy and hospitality. The renovation of the original 17th-century manor house was overseen by the Lalique designers Lady Tina Green and Pietro Mingarelli, and the conservatory extension was designed by the architect Mario Botta. Michelin awarded a star to the Lalique restaurant, run by chef Jérôme Schilling, in its France 2019 guide. The chapel, set between the two historic cellars, is decorated with Lalique works and holds the crystal work Eternal Belief by Damien Hirst. A 225-litre barrel made of Lalique crystal, holding around 300 bottles' worth of the estate's 2013 Sauternes, was unveiled in the cellars to mark 400 years since Raymond Peyraguey's acquisition of the property in 1618.

• Lalique hotel and restaurant opened June 2018
• Michelin star for the Lalique restaurant in the France 2019 guide
• 225-litre Lalique crystal barrel holding the 2013 Sauternes

Primary sources (producer's own sites): http://www.lafaurie-peyraguey.com/home/, https://www.vignobles-silvio-denz.com/en/propriete/chateau-lafaurie-peyraguey/,https://www.vignobles-silvio-denz.com/en/silvio-denz/, https://www.vignobles-silvio-denz.com/en/vignobles/, the estate's technical sheet (PDF) https://www.vignobles-silvio-denz.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/FICHES-TECHNIQUES-LAFAURIE-ANG.pdf, the 2024 en primeur sheet (PDF) https://www.vignobles-silvio-denz.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/FT-Primeurs-ANG-VSD-2024-Lafaurie-Peyraguey-maj.pdf, https://www.lafauriepeyragueylalique.com/en/the-domain/chateau/, https://www.lafauriepeyragueylalique.com/en/the-domain/vineyard/, https://www.lafauriepeyragueylalique.com/en/the-domain/a-sense-of-place/, https://www.lafauriepeyragueylalique.com/en/wine-tourism/wine-shop/, https://www.lafauriepeyragueylalique.com/en/wine-tourism/the-chapel/, https://www.lafauriepeyragueylalique.com/en/wine-tourism/visits-tasting/. Secondary sources: Decanter (Laura Seal, 29 June 2018; Chris Mercer, 31 January 2019 and 1 February 2019). Last verified 2026-10-20. Where the producer's site and a secondary source disagree, the producer's site governs.