Chateau Lamartine

The Gayaurds of Château Lamartine are Malbec specialists, four generations of winemakers that have studied the grape on historic sites in Cahors—its most compelling French terroir. And their property has seen it all: Once a large Gallo-Roman estate, it was partially destroyed by wars throughout the Middle Ages, but survived until the Phylloxera outbreak in 1878. During that time, the Gayraud family made their living as stone cutters, building houses in the village, including the Château itself. Vines returned to the property in the early 1920s, when Edouard Sérougne married the owner and planted five hectares. He sold wine in barrels until his first bottling in 1955 and went on to help establish the Cahors AOP with 15 of his winemaking peers. The estate passed to his daughter Carmen, then her son, Alain Gayraud. With the help of his wife Brigette, Alain doubled Lamartine’s vineyard size and modernized the winery before handing the reins to their children, Lise and Benjamin. Today, Château Lamartine encompasses 37 hectares of vines—ranging from 20 to 120 years old—that sit on Cahors’ westernmost reaches, giving them an Atlantic influence that’s unusual for the region. Here, the family farms the oldest terraces in the appellation, where the soil comprises a limestone base with clay and various stones.Benjamin handles the winemaking while Lise manages the business, and the duo haven’t strayed from the tradition of honoring the land—farming organically, without herbicides. They’ve experimented with new varieties, fermentation vessels, and aging regimens, even introducing the estate’s first white wine. Yet everything they do is informed by their family’s long-standing love for the region and the Malbec it yields.