Château Latour (1st Growths) - Pauillac

The discovery and analysis of ancient archives at Château Latour, in the early 60's, allowed historians to accurately reconstruct the Estate's past from 1331 on. This exceptional work allows one now to better understand the unique qualities that make Latour truly special. When one evokes the name Château Latour, one immediately thinks of a fortified tower built on the banks of an estuary overlooking the water, the vines and the marshes. This tower really did exist and a glorious past is attached to it.

The tower of Saint-Lambert was probably built during the latter half of the 14th century. Indeed, on 18th October 1331, PONS, Seigneur of Castillon, allowed Gaucelme de CASTILLON, member of one of the richest Médoc families, to build a fortress in Saint-Lambert. In 1378, Château Latour "en Saint-Maubert ", called later Château La Tour and then Château Latour, entered the annals of history. We are at that time in the midst of the one hundred years war and the Tower of Saint-Mambert, a fortified post guarding the estuary, is being held by Breton soldiers employed by the King of France. After a siege lasting three days, the Anglo-Gascon army seized the fort and installed a garnison. Latour stayed under British domination, until the capitulation's treaty, just after the Battle of Castillon, on 17th July 1453.

The history of the Saint-Maubert Tower is now a mystery because it doesn't exist anymore... Nowhere, on the 1759 cadastre in Château Latour, do we have the sign of a building that looks like a tower. The fortress, in the 14th century, was based at about 300 meters from the river

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