Valentine’s Day and the couples who make great wine together

Château de Chantegrive – Graves At the helm of Château de Chantegrive, Marie-Hélène Lévêque and her partner Eric have travelled the world to promote their wines, attending all the tours organised by the Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux. From Saint John in Canada, to Brazil, passing through Beijing and a visit to the Forbidden City at dawn just before a wine tasting, the couple has fond memories of its travels.

But at home, in the Graves appellation, is where the duo truly flourishes day-to-day. Eric is responsible for wine tourism, while Marie-Hélène is the general manager of the Château. At this estate, the couple is, in fact, continuing a tradition started by Françoise and Henri Lévêque, Marie-Hélène’s parents. In 1963, these wine enthusiasts bought their first two hectares of land on the Graves terroir. They started planting vines and, little by little, built their estate.

More than sixty years later, winegrowing at Chantegrive is still a love story.

Château Chasse-Spleen – Moulis-en-Médoc In the Médoc region, yet another couple is the beating heart of an estate. Céline Villars-Foubet has been managing the Château since 2000 with a clear, personal vision. To avoid isolation in the role, she decided to form a duo with her husband Jean-Pierre Foubet.

Together, they manage the estate with matching sensitivity, fuelled by a love of winegrowing, architecture and art. To illustrate, the artworks on public view in the park, wine cellar and manor house have been chosen to create a sense of humour and wonderment. This cultural mindset influences their approach to the Grand Cru and its assertive personality. And their complementarity can be seen in the smooth-running of the operations and attention to detail, with family heritage constantly interacting with assured modernity.

Château de Lamarque – Haut-Médoc At Château de Lamarque, Pierre-Gilles and Marie-Hélène Gromand d’Evry make an iconic pair. Indeed, their ancestors built this fortress to defend the province of Guyennes from Viking invasions. A thousand years later, Pierre-Gilles and Marie-Hélène have taken on the more peaceful mission of producing a straightforward, structured wine with a deeply rooted Médoc identity. Of the 25 generations forming the family saga, they are the seventh to watch over this 48-hectare vineyard.

At the Château, their roles are clearly defined: Pierre-Gilles oversees the winegrowing process and acts as the estate’s spokesperson, while Marie-Hélène spends every day in the vineyard. She examines the plots – observing, anticipating and taking decisions. He shapes the Château’s wines over time with his precise and attentive eye. They have built a truly complementary team with one having an overall vision and forging sales relationships, the other remaining close to the terroir and its wines.

Château de Fargues – Sauternes Here in the village of Fargues, a couple has put their hearts into a revival project. When Philippe de Lur Saluces and his wife Charlotte came back to settle for good at Château de Fargues, they took on far more than just continuing the family tradition. With their input, the medieval fortress has gradually returned to life. The buildings have been renovated, the spaces redefined and the place opened up to new purposes.

Philippe manages the estate and oversees the wine, the vineyard and the technical choices made, pursuing an artisanal and demanding approach. Charlotte, meanwhile, manages communication, marketing and events, as well as the estate’s other activities, helping to bring Château de Fargues into the modern era without ever betraying its soul. Their roles are divided but their vision is shared. Their complementarity runs smoothly, with wine as the key focus while giving the estate a new lease of life.