Jacques Lurton
France
Jacques's Wines
- France
- 1Â wine
- 1Â style
Son of a giant of Bordeaux winemaking, proudly following in his father's footsteps
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Born into the famous Lurton family of winemakers, Jacques' father Andre was a true giant of Bordeaux, with a celebrity reputation and an incredible wine portfolio built over 6 decades. It was only natural that Jacques himself would follow in his father’s footsteps and, when Andre passed away in 2019, it was Jacques who took on the family mantle as CEO and winemaker of the family business.
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It was in Australia in the 1980s that Jacques really discovered his passion for winemaking, when he saw the groundbreaking techniques Aussie winemakers were using - light years ahead of traditional old Bordeaux. He came back to work at the family estate, bringing these newfound techniques with him, before founding the world’s first flying wine consultancy with his brother. Over the years, he’s made wine in more than 20 countries - from France to Australia to Argentina to Moldova - and filled up a fat stack of passports.
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Now back in Bordeaux, Jacques is super-excited to be making wine for you and he’s keen to hear your feedback, which he says will help make his wines even better. A lover of cool-climate styles - like those of Piedmont, Burgundy and the Loire - Jacques tries to evoke those characteristics in his own wines. And being from Bordeaux, you just know his kit's going to be fruity, complex and velvety smooth.
Vineyard Location
Jacques Lurton's Story
Jacques' Story
I was born into a family of winemakers, at Chateau Bonnet, our family estate, in the Entre-deux-Mers. My father André Lurton created a wine empire throughout his lifetime from 1950s for over sixty years. Initially I was more attracted to agriculture than wine making but in 1982 I decided to study oenology in Bordeaux and quickly became passionate about wine.
Shortly afterwards I went to Australia and discovered a whole new world of white wine technology! I fell in love with the place!
I came back a couple of years later and worked for my family estates implementing these new technics to our wine making. Then my brother and I created the first flying wine consultancy and we travelled for over thirty years and made wine in more than 20 countries.
We planted vines in obscure places where no one had ever planted vines before! I experimented making wine with local varieties initially for mass production and proved they were able to produce very high-quality wines. We put Rueda (Spain) on the international map by doing so.
My most memorable moment making wine was when I did my first vintage in Chile. And making wines in Moldova in the early 90s was quite a challenge! It was a post-communist society that had little access to the world.
When my father passed away in 2019 I came home and was nominated CEO and winemaker of the business. Famille Andre Lurton has 200 employee. Anne Neuville is my head winemaker and enables my projects to come to life. Recently my niece, Mathilde de Caix-Lurton joined the company as Managing Director and now manages the day-to day affairs.
I've been making wine for 40 years now! The days are very busy, but also extremely diverse! I’m also involved in the various syndicates (I’m president of Pessac-Léognan). So, it can be anything from walking the vines, being in the cellar or attending business meetings.
My style derives from Piemont, Burgundy and the Loire. All places which produce wines I love. Cool climate style wines. And my wines are fruity, velvety, smooth, structured and sustainable.
I joined Naked Wines this year 2021, I choose this company because like us they try to innovate. It’s important for us to work with a partner who shares the same values as us.
By buying Barbe Blanche you are helping fund the conversion of our estate into organic farming. You are working directly with a family run business which highly values social sustainability through direct relationships.
I’m looking forward to getting first feedback about Château Barbe Blanche. I know that feedback is one of your community’s strengths, we always want to improve the quality of our wines so it’s important for us.
