2024 Chateau Lagrange Saint-Julien 750 ml

Château Lagrange was already well known and respected even before it was classified a Third Growth in 1855. 

Sixty-eight years prior, during a trip to Bordeaux, Thomas Jefferson had ranked the wine alongside Mouton, Calon-Ségur, and Pontet-Canet. Lagrange has the highest vines in Saint-Julien: two sloping hills that top out at 24 meters. The sheer size of this domaine, 118 hectares, gives the winemaking team an array of grapes to select for the Grand Vin—and less than half typically make the cut. 

It hasn’t always been glory at Lagrange. The château went through a difficult period in the 20th century, before the Suntory Group bought it in 1983. At that time, a third of the vines were dead, and the vineyard was overplanted to Merlot. Suntory invested millions of euros in rejuvenating the vineyard, which is hitting its stride today, now that the average vine-age is about 40 years. In 2013, the company renovated Lagrange’s entire winemaking facility. 

These investments have paid off with outstanding quality. Bordeaux lovers reap the dividends.