Bernadotte
quite a story
- SINCE 1860 -
Chateau Bernadotte
Where does the name Bernadotte come from?
It's a long story. Chateaux love stories that are or sometimes become legends. Bernadotte is one of them. Like many properties in Médoc and more broadly in bordelais, Bernadotte has been built over time and generations by successions, by inheritances often breaking up the estates, and therefore by buying back plots to enlarge and to reconstruct consistent and qualitative vineyards. Bernadotte is no exception.
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Chateau Bernadotte was originally a charming 19th century mansion, built in 1860. A classic and opulent mansion that displays its pretty roadside facade, in the hamlet of Le Fournas, in the Saint-Sauveur commune.
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If the vineyard adjoining the chateau is named Bernadotte in homage to the marshal of the empire Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte who, appointed by Napoleon, was called by the Swedish people to succeed King Charles XIII in 1818, there is also a trace of a plot called Bernadotte on a cadastral map of the Saint-Sauveur commune.
Birth of
a name
When Curt Eklund, a Swedish industrialist, bought the estate in 1973, he had the ambition to turn it into a prestigious Haut-Médoc vineyard. He completely renovated the property by unifying the estate. To do this, he bought parcels, including the Bernadotte plot, and had a new cellar built which he equipped with new vats and barrels as well as modern equipment for the time.
Curt Eklund is an enthusiast who goes to the end of the commitment; he has the will to anchor the chateau and the newly created estate in a strong territorial identity. So what could be better than a baptism to signify the legitimacy of a membership? The historical link between Sweden and south-west France sounds quite evident.
He then summons the memory of this distant Swedish king, born In Béarnais, Jean Baptiste Bernadotte, who, although he never walked the soil of Saint-Sauveur du Médoc, tells a beautiful king's story. And as everyone knows, kings always need a chateau.
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This is how Chateau Bernadotte was born, a veritable internationally recognized winery.
The emergence of a quality Bourgeois Vintage
Over the years, the cultivation of vines became professional, the quality of the wine was refined, the typicity asserted itself, the vineyard fulfilled the expected promises. Chateau Bernadotte wins its vintage classification as Bourgeois Vintage.
Symbol of its new recognition, the chateau is renovated giving the building an aristocratic look.
The big turning point
1997 marked a major turning point. Purchased by the second Classified Vintage Chateau Pichon Longueville Countess de Lalande, Chateau Bernadotte will experience a new boom. The aim of the new estate owner, Madame May-Eliane de Lencquesaing, is to expand the range of its wines by taking over this Bourgeois Vintage which is close to its Second Great Classified Vintage.
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Chosen for its rank and the quality of its wines, for its geographical location straddling the Pauillac and Haut-Médoc appellations and its promising potential, Chateau Bernadotte will benefit from significant investments both in the vineyards and the cellars, as well as in the chateau itself. For more than a decade, Chateau Bernadotte received all the care and know-how brought to the great classified vintages.
Change of
ownership
In 2007, the Maison de Champagne Louis Roederer acquired Chateau Bernadotte and Chateau Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande.
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A renovation of the vineyard is carried out by grouping plots and carrying out new plantations.
Since 2012,
a new radiance
At the end of 2012, Chateau Bernadotte was bought by a man in love with beautiful bottles.
Antares Cheng, Chairman of King Power Group located in Hong Kong, also has a strong and deliberately forward-looking network of interconnected multi-sector companies. He entrusted the Bernadotte team with the continuation of the renovation and investment work necessary to enhance the quality of the vineyard and contribute to the estate's reputation.
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Chateau Bernadotte becomes a well-known property but also recognized. It is now a question of perpetuating the distribution of Bernadotte wines through the Place de Bordeaux and of taking up the internationalization challenge.
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A step has already been taken with the creation of a representative office in Beijing in 2015. Further progress is being made. To follow.