Château Lestage Simon

The perfect embodiment of a Cru Bourgeois, Château Lestage Simon, located at Saint-Seurin-de-Cadourne, beside the great vineyard of Saint-Estèphe, profits from an outstanding terroir, complex and diverse, and whose quintessence is the basis of the chateau’s wines. The situation of the vines varies considerably: some grapes derive from sandy soils along the riverbank, others from limestone and clay-limestone soils further inland. The Château produces a supple Haut-Médoc, whose structure, richness and balance presage an excellent cellar potential.
Bordeaux, a city of merchants, witnessed the arrival of its first bourgeoisie during the twelfth century. The membersof this new class were quick to confirm with their English rulers the rights and privileges they had enjoyed since the feudal era. It was on this basis that, with the return of Guyenne to French control at the end of the Hundred Years War, they were able to secure from the Crown the privileges usually reserved for the nobility: the right to bear arms, and thus to the title of seigniorial estates. Enriched by centuries of international trade, this merchant class came to acquire great estates, establishing vineyards that would eventually come to be known colloquially as the ‘Crus Bourgeois’. The official classification of the Crus Bourgeois du Médoc, covering 247 chateaux, was launched by the Ministry of Agriculture, following several decades of work by the local Syndicat. At the beginning of the 2007 vintage, a new set of standards for the classification was put in place, heralding a period of possible change for the category. The Crus Bourgeois played a significant part in the renaissance and revival of the Médoc vineyards, beginning in the 1970s.