Château La Tour de By
33340 Bégadan
Tel : +33 (0)556 415 003

   info@latourdeby.fr

www.latourdeby.fr

Château La Tour de By, lighthouse at the end of the Médoc world.

All about Château La Tour de By, Cru Bourgeois Supérieur du Médoc

In a green setting lined with precious gravel and adorned by an ancient lighthouse contemporary with Louis XVI, the Tour de By has, since 1965, gradually earned itself an excellent reputation among Bordeaux wine connoisseurs. A viticultural instrument in the service of a wine faithful to the perfection of the Médoc, exclusively owned by the late Marc Pagès in 1997, it is his grandsons, Frédéric Le Clerc and Benjamin Rocher de Forges, who maintain the memory of their singular grandfather, while brilliantly preserving the style of a wine with eternal youth.

The Tour de By, lighthouse at the end of the Médoc world.

More than a traditional château, here the neoclassical work of a certain Robuchon in the 19th century, La Tour de By, formerly La Roque de By before 1876, is in many ways an idyllic place. A corner of the Médoc wine-growing region in Bégadan - the land of crus bourgeois - where a pure, timeless vision of wine is passionately nurtured. In other words, absolute Tradition with a capital “T”, without dogmatism or rejection of technical evolution. The natural setting is important in capturing the charm and dreaminess of the Tour de By wines. On one side, a majestic cedar tree over a hundred years old, hemmed in by a sea of Cabernet Sauvignon-dominated vines. On the other, a stone lighthouse - a former gristmill contemporary with King Louis XVI in its present form - protects both vine and cedar. Architecturally unique, the lighthouse sits on a gravelly hilltop overlooking the Gironde estuary. The setting - a tad Mediterranean, to hear with amazement the summer song of the only cicadas in the Bordeaux region - is thus planted, peaceful, of a rare beauty with its scent of cedar mingled with iodine. This “marine” wine-growing land - whose initial 32 hectares were later increased from 75 hectares to 115 hectares of vines, organized into two distinct parts - is blessed by this promiscuity with the estuary. These ideal conditions give rise to ripe grapes that produce wines which, in the space of 60 years, have become an undisputed benchmark.

A tribute to a colorful character who is at the origin of a wine with character.

The style of a property and the temperament of a wine are also explained by the character of those who conceived and built them. In other words, the identity of a wine is the human face that lies, often humbly, behind its art of giving us pleasure in the bottle. Doesn't the greatness of an owner, however well known, recognized and powerful, lie first and foremost in his ability to take a back seat to the greatness of a terroir? La Tour de By - a Médoc wine that resembles only itself - is no exception to the rule. To understand the story told by each bottle of this Cru Bourgeois Supérieur is to get to know the colorful character that was Marc Pagès. To fully appreciate the estate's wines, which are also the result of the many skills of an entire team, it is essential to evoke his main characteristics. Marc Pagès has long shared a number of virtues with his wines. The frankness of the wines is borrowed from the man's elegant outspokenness; the delicious, richly fruity flavors from those of this experienced man's easygoing words; the straightforwardness and aplomb of the nectar - also provided by the nobility of the ripe Cabernet Sauvignon - to that of the young soldier he was at the side of General Leclerc, when at the controls of his 2° DB tank, he entered liberated Strasbourg on November 23, 1944; finally, the wisdom, durability, timelessness and ageability of his wines... qualities identical to those of Marc Pagès, with his youthful looks but estimable experience.

La Tour de By or the story of uprooting from Tunisia to the Médoc.

As mentioned above, La Tour de By is first and foremost the imprint of a man who propelled the estate into another world: Marc Pagès. Although he passed away in 2007, it was Marc Pagès who, on his return from Tunisia in 1965, where he had developed a winegrowing business (an agricultural engineer by training), identified the potential of this site with a small group of repatriates from Tunisia. So, with his partners Messrs Lapalu and Cailloux, Marc Pagès acquired the property with the firm intention of rehabilitating this flagship cru in the northern Médoc. Marc Pagès sealed the revival of his wines with the invaluable advice of Emile Peynaud, consultant oenologist at La Tour de By, whom he met as early as 1966. By this time, Peynaud was already well known not only in Bordeaux, but throughout the world. He became Bordeaux's first star oenologist, well ahead of Michel Rolland, Stéphane Derenoncourt, Jacques and Eric Boissenot (father and son), and Thomas Duclos. Together, the two men created a prestige cuvée in 1982 to further reveal the magic of the estate. All the more so since Emile Peynaud was full of praise for the potential of La Tour de By, of which he said: “La Tour de By produces colorful, richly aromatic, full-bodied wines with a strong structure and great longevity. It has all the qualities of great modern wines. » In 2005, after Marc Pagès became sole owner of La Tour de By in 1997, the brilliant Frédéric Le Clerc joined his grandfather as the eldest grandson. Trained as a forestry engineer and polytechnician, Frédéric Le Clerc is actively developing the estate alongside the admirable Marc Pagès. Nevertheless, Marc Pagès passed away on July 4, 2007, leaving a huge void. Frédéric Le Clerc has no choice but to take action to ensure that La Tour de By continues to grow and that the legacy of Marc Pagès lives on. In 2009, Marc Pagès' eldest grandson was joined by his cousin, Benjamin Richer de Forges. The latter represents the 5th generation to make wine since Tunisia, and the 3rd generation at the helm of La Tour de By. The two cousins have set a course and will not deviate from it. Driven by the same passion for the land, for wine and for their grandfather, the two men intend to perpetuate the memory of Marc Pagès, while constantly striving to improve quality and establish La Tour de By at the table of great wines.

A technical evolution that never forgets to serve tradition.

In September and October, when everything is judged to be perfectly ripe, all the plots are picked by machine. Make no mistake about it! The choice of the machine in this renowned cru is not an anachronism, nor is it a skulduggery. After decades of manual harvesting, the château's team - reassured by the technological evolution of increasingly sophisticated and precise machines - opted for this type of harvesting. The result is clear: the machine shakes the ripest berries, leaving those that are not ripe or not ripe enough standing. Sometimes 10 to 15% of the harvest is left standing, but that's the price we pay for quality. And to remind us that the human eye is present at all times, one person keeps a close eye on the machine, ensuring that operations run smoothly and that the first sorting is accurate. Another sorting is carried out in the vat room to make sure nothing is forgotten. The result is clear.

The quality of our wines becomes more and more exemplary every year, whatever the year's reputation. The proof is in the vertical tasting which, vintage after vintage, retraces the incredible work carried out by Marc Pagès and his judiciously selected collaborators. The unforgettable benchmark remains 1986 or 1982, a wine under the blessing of the famous and late oenologist-consultant and great wine aesthete, Emile Peynaud. A loyal ally of Marc Pagès, long-time consultant to La Tour de By, now replaced by the no less talented Eric Boissenot, son of Jacques Boissenot, who was also the flagship consultant oenologist for La Tour de By and the Crus Classés du Médoc. The 1982 vintage is therefore an absolute example of what can be expected from a Cru Bourgeois of this stature. A property where we strive to vinify with the intelligence of fruit and the docility of tannins, naturally inclined towards indomitable power if terroir and man were not to decide otherwise. These vintages include 1982, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1996, 2000, 2003 and 2005 (the latter marking the arrival of Frédéric Le Clerc). But let's not forget the following vintages without Marc Pagès: 2009, 2010, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022 and 2023. These wines have been crafted in the superb traditional 1850 and 1910 vat room, with its 20 wooden vats - a priceless Médoc heritage - which, during the vinification phases, exude a dark, spicy fruitiness, all matured in two huge 1400-barrel cellars. Here, wood never masks the imprint of terroir. Above all, it reveals it. Marc Pagès has never ceased to seek out the Tour de By brand, not that of a cooper. Consumers from all over the world can still see this today, as the two grandsons at the head of the estate follow in their grandfather's footsteps.

A wine that sings of the splendor of the Médoc, a land where wines age serenely.

A Médoc is not a Saint-Emilion, just as a Pomerol is not a Pauillac... In an age of taste that is unjustly suspected of being uniform, it's hard to believe that wine styles and taste characteristics are being levelled out to such an extent. In other words, if imitation does exist, to be in the Médoc is to make true Médoc. It's a position that makes sense when you want to differentiate yourself and satisfy an increasingly demanding consumer in search of authenticity and reference points. The wines of La Tour de By owe their success to the fact that they are faithful and representative of the Médoc appellation's nec plus ultra. The excellent terroir - which could have enabled La Tour de By to be included in the 1855 classification - favors color and ripe tannins: the secrets of a powerful palate that is always under control, caressing with age. The Médoc gravelly hilltop on alios, or even fossilized clay-limestone in places, is planted with Cabernets over 50 years old, which account for 65% of the total (Merlot and Petit Verdot are 32% and 2% respectively)... A vineyard cultivated according to the rules of the art, never overloaded with fruit or overly productive. Secondly, the Gironde estuary provides the vines with a beneficial microclimate, preventing excess heat and humidity. The nearby ocean provides ventilation that both concentrates the grapes and ensures that the vines are in a more regular state of health. All the ingredients are brought together to produce perfect fruit for characterful wines.

Château La Tour de By produces around 450,000 bottles of all its wines every year. The range is well thought-out and covers the full range of expertise and terroir expectations.

The Grand Vin, Château La Tour de By, is made from the finest plots located 200 meters from the Gironde Estuary. The average age of the vines is 45 years, and on a base of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot and 5% Petit Verdot, they give a very fine expression of the historic terroir. Next comes a Second Vin in the same spirit, Les Tourterelles de By, made from the same plots as the Grand Vin, thus perfectly reflecting the spirit of the Grand Vin, with 45-year-old vines (60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot), but to be enjoyed younger, as it is softer, fruitier, more in the style of a pleasure wine.

The estate also produces Château La Tour de By - Blanc. This is a white AOP Bordeaux Blanc made from Sauvignon Blanc grapes. A well-balanced, fresh wine with a full, persistent mouthfeel.

Another important wine in the range is the Médoc Château La Roque de By, a nod to the property's former name before it became Château La Tour de By after 1876. The vines used to produce this wine are made of gravel from Gironde (for part) and clay and limestone for the rest. Made from 50% Cabernet Sauvignon and 50% Merlot aged 35 years, this wine is harmonious on the palate, fruity but not lacking in character after a good ten years in bottle.

In addition to these wines, there's the sumptuous Cuvée Tribute to Marc Pagès, which the grandsons had the good sense to bring up to date by renaming it Héritage Marc Pagès. This is a Médoc made from vines over 60 years old. 80% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Merlot make up this exceptional wine, which Emile Peynaud and Marc Pagès decided to make together for the sumptuous and legendary 1982 vintage. The cuvée's first name was Prestige. This wine reveals the quintessential character of the Château La Tour de By vineyard (gravel with alios subsoil, on two beautiful gravel hilltops ideally exposed between the Gironde Estuary and the Atlantic Ocean) already expressed in the Grand Vin, but which takes on a deeper dimension here, with more nuance and precision. A unique wine, the flagship of the estate. A wine for laying down (20, 30 years or more). Finally, the Pagès family also invested in 2011, purchasing a vineyard from the very old Castillon de Médoc vineyard (now Saint-Cristoly de Médoc). Château La Valière is a Cru Bourgeois whose parcels are located on the banks of the Gironde, just 3 kilometers from La Tour de By. It was Marc Pagès who selected this terroir on his return from Tunisia to install the son of his friend and associate, Monsieur Cailloux. The vines are just over 30 years old and, with 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Merlot, produce a dashing, straightforward wine that holds up well on the palate.

Château La Tour de By 2022

In this sumptuous vintage, a year of great Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot, Château La Tour de By 2022 is a wine with a majority Cabernet Sauvignon base, complemented by Merlot and the indispensable Petit-Verdot. The wine's color is dark, almost inky. The nose is seductive, concentrated with lots of aromatic freshness and blackberry, blackcurrant and spice aromas on agitation. The palate is frank on the attack, with a dense but well-integrated mid-palate of tannins. The wine's weight is substantial and it has plenty of drive. The finish is delicately serene, without clinging to the palate.

Héritage Marc Pagès 2020

This sumptuous cuvée, produced in only 3,000 bottles, is a tribute to the great Marc Pagès (who passed away in 2007), the grandfather of Frédéric Le Clerc and Benjamin Richer de Forges. Renamed Héritage Marc Pagès after long being called “Prestige” de La Tour de By when it was launched in 1982, this cuvée brings together the very best of the La Tour de By terroir. With 80% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Merlot, a selection from the château's best vineyard plots, with vines over 60 years old, this wine is aged as a Grand Cru Classé with 18 months in new barrels. The nose is dense, complex and deep, with a fresh aromatic palette of black fruits, balsamic scents of Lebanese cedar and spices. Produced in years with great Cabernets (2020 is one of them), the wine clearly shows its seriousness with a dense, elegant palate built on creamy tannins and impressive wine weight. The cuvée plays on both delicacy and power (they're not mutually exclusive), while demonstrating absolute precision in both vinification and ageing. The finish is long-lasting, and the whole wine is certainly cut out for cellaring, or even very long cellaring (over 30 to 40 years). Like the Grand Vin, this wine demonstrates the quintessence and excellence of this terroir, revealing, vintage after vintage, all the complexity and promise of this Cru Bourgeois, which has become more modern in its wines, without deviating from the fundamentals initiated by Marc Pagès.

The best vintages from Château La Tour de By :

1975-1981-1982-1985-1986-1988-1989-1990-1985-1988-1989-1990-1996-2000-2001-2005-2006-2009-2010-2015-2016-2018-2019-2020-2022-2023