On a sunny afternoon this past June, the view through Château Cos d’Estournel’s famous triumphal arch revealed a dozen workers feverishly laying paving stones, fitting pieces of sod into geometric patterns and scrubbing the sides of still-empty water basins. Much remained to be done, and there were only two days left until Vinexpo, when thousands of the world’s wine professionals would stream into Bordeaux for the huge biennial trade fair. A good number were expected to make their way to Saint-Estèphe’s Cos d’Estournel, curious to see the spanking-new chais by star architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte and renowned designer Jacques Garcia.
    For months, the project had been generating major buzz. The idea of pairing Wilmotte—known for his sleek minimalism—and Garcia—for whom more is always more—was intriguing in itself. Rumor had it that Wilmotte’s army of space-age stainless-steel vats sparkled like diamonds beneath a vast, arched blond-wood ceiling. “A setting for the next James Bond film,” wrote one journalist. “The Louis Vuitton of vat rooms,” commented another. Cos had pulled off the seemingly impossible, making the most workaday part of a winery look positively sexy.
    The pièce de résistance was the ascenseurs à cuves. A first in the wine world, these outsized, high-tech elevators were designed exclusively for vats, ferrying them between floors and thus making it possible to complete the entire vinification process using only gravity. These days, the Earth’s pull seems to be on the mind of every serious winemaker, and many have devised ways to use it rather than traditional pumps, which they now consider too rough for their coddled grapes and wine. But no one had yet devised anything like Cos’s elevators, and these shiny vats in their sleek glass shafts were inciting serious chais-envy throughout the region.

THE SPECTACULAR RENOVATIONS at Cos are the latest addition to a body of contemporary architecture that originated just across the street at Château Lafite Rothschild back in 1986, when Baron Eric de Rothschild commissioned Catalan architect Ricardo de Bofill to build a new underground wine cellar. This was long before starchitects would transform Napa and Rioja, and hiring international talent for such a project was a radical idea. (Around that same time, a relatively unknown Michael Graves was building Napa’s Clos Pégase, now considered America’s “first monument to wine as art.”)
    Bofill did not disappoint. His revolutionary design transformed the classic barrel cellar—typically a rectangular shape housing long rows of casks—into an octagon, with wood casks stacked in concentric rings around a rotunda illuminated by a skylight. This elegantly simple arrangement proved to be not only aesthetically pleasing but highly efficient, reducing the distances covered by cellar workers by some 200 miles per year. It has been widely copied since.
    A few years later, Margaux’s Château Prieuré Lichine, originally a medieval Benedictine priory, dabbled in contemporary design when it expanded its cellars and added a round, concrete structure inspired by the shape of a wine barrel. Conceived as a tasting room, visitors center and boutique, it is topped by a helipad—ritzy in its day but now fallen into disuse. Architect Philippe Mazières, who has since worked on a number of international projects including Rioja’s acclaimed Viña Real, recalls that owner Sasha Lichine’s American background prompted the tourism aspect, something then almost unheard of at top Bordeaux estates.
    Other innovative projects followed, including dramatic renovations at Château Pichon-Longueville by the French-American team Jean de Gastines and Patrick Dillon. “We gave them a very detailed technical brief and asked them to design around it,” says Jean-Michel Cazes, who directed the property at the time. “They were the first to carefully integrate winemaking facilities into the surroundings.” Indeed, when visitors approach the fairy-tale château with its turrets and pitched slate roof, they barely notice the chais and reception rooms flanking the 19th-century edifice. The additions are sunk into the ground, with only a few architectural flourishes hinting at the state-of-the-art winery below.
    Daring as they were, these initiatives were largely eclipsed by the fabulous wineries springing up in the New World (including estates such as Dominus and Opus One that are owned or co-owned by French winemakers) and in Spain’s Rioja Valley, the new hotbed of viticultural design. Herzog & de Meuron, Frank Gehry, Santiago Calatrava and others have built these marvelous wine temples from scratch, designing monumental spaces to project an iconic brand image and accommodate hospitality, retail and other activities.
    Now, world-renowned architects are setting their sights on Bordeaux—Mario Botta has just completed arresting chais for Château Faugères, Christian de Portzamparc is revamping the legendary Château Cheval Blanc and other high-profile collaborations are in the starting blocks. But regardless of whether the architect is local or an international superstar, new construction here is almost always all about the wine. This is particularly true of the highly competitive grand cru vineyards, which are locked in a constant battle to improve quality. They tend to see contemporary architecture the way Olympic swimmers see high-tech swimwear—cool, but only if it helps them win.

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	CHÂTEAU COS D'ESTOURNEL A TRADITION OF AUDACITY > SAINT-ESTÈPHE GRAND CRU CLASSÉ

“I think that it’s a wine cellar… This very elegant building, a brilliant bright-yellow color, is really of no particular style; it is neither Greek nor Gothic but very cheerful and more or less Chinese. On the façade, there is only one word: Cos.” French writer Stendhal penned these words in 1838, and visitors ever since have marveled at the strange architecture of this winery.
    Probably the most extraordinary building in the Médoc, it sprang from the imagination of its eccentric owner, Louis-Gaspard d’Estournel (1762-1853), who inherited the property in 1791. As colorful as any character in a novel, d’Estournel was driven by a blind passion for his vineyard, one that earned his wine a place on the tables of Napoleon III and Queen Victoria but that also drove him so deep into debt that he died penniless. Along the way, he advanced the science of winemaking and repeatedly stunned the Bordeaux wine world with antics such as his “Retour des Indes” wines, inspired when an undelivered shipment to India was returned to his estate. Surprised that the wine tasted better than when it had left the property, he promptly began sending his vintages on round-trip voyages, branding these bottles with a distinctive “R.” They became wildly popular.
    Indeed, d’Estournel excelled at cultivating a sense of magical exoticism, understanding early on that wine is like no other product, that dreams and imagination are part of the tasting experience. His new chais echoed this conviction—the magnificent golden sandstone structure is topped with exuberant pagodas and boasts an enormous carved-wood door imported from Zanzibar. Inside, mesmerized visitors tasted his wines amid flickering candles, mirrors, plush carpets and silk wall hangings.
    Without d’Estournel’s unbridled zeal, his namesake wines might never have achieved the renown they enjoy today, and the estate’s latest renovations pay generous tribute to his influence and contributions. “No one since d’Estournel had looked at the big picture here,” says Jean-Guillaume Prats, president of Cos d’Estournel since 2000. “Work had been done in bits and pieces, but this time, we wanted to rethink everything, to rationalize the entire work space and incorporate the latest technologies.” Together with Michel Reybier, an industrialist who purchased the property in 2000, Prats worked out a plan to renovate and enlarge the chais; a second phase will turn nearby buildings into guest rooms, a boutique and a tasting room. “Cos never had a château, so this will vastly improve our facilities for welcoming visitors,” says Prats.
    He selected architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte for his demonstrated ability to integrate contemporary design into historic buildings—and for his love of wine. “Vat rooms are usually boring; frankly, they look a lot like dairies,” laughs Wilmotte. “We wanted this one to be very different, to provide a dramatic setting for state-of-the-art winemaking equipment.” The materials he chose—stainless steel, oak and glass—were inspired by vats, barrels and bottles. The overall effect is open and airy, sleek and chic—way more art gallery than dairy.
    The original part of the chais, now used for sorting grapes, was decorated by Jacques Garcia, as renowned for his sumptuously rich interiors as Wilmotte is for his spare designs. In dramatic contrast with the adjacent vinification room, it has wine-red walls, massive dark wood beams and stone elephants standing guard by the doors. Imbued with the sensual exoticism that so enchanted d’Estournel, this vast, high-ceilinged space just beyond the Zanzibar door is sometimes used for receptions and other events. Equally theatrical is the barrel cellar, dramatically lit by glowing glass columns, and the bottle cellar, an opulent yet intimate space that feels like the inside of an Indian jewel box.
    Outside, the building has been restored to its original glory, and the grounds now feature fanciful elephant topiaries, pink Indian paving stones and other design elements that recall Louis d’Estournel—that irrepressible dreamer known as the Maharajah of Saint-Estèphe. cosestournel.com

	CHÂTEAU FAUGÈRES BREAKING NEW GROUND > SAINT-EMILION GRAND CRU CLASSÉ

In 1992, the Guisez family, owners of Faugères since 1823, built a striking new winery designed by Jean de Gastines and Patrick Dillon. The “architectural envelope,” as winemakers call it, still looks very of-the-moment, but winemaking philosophies and techniques have advanced so much that the equipment—very innovative in its day—is now rather dated. Certainly no match for the ambitions of Silvio Denz, the Swiss perfume entrepreneur who bought the property in 2005.
    “There was another drawback,” explains Denz. “In 2004, new AOC regulations stipulated that wines must be made in their appellation.” Château Faugères, whose 200 acres of vineyards straddle Saint-Emilion and Côtes de Castillon, had always had a single winery on the Castillon side. “INAO [Institut National des Appellations d’Origine] has granted an exemption for estates like ours,” he says. “But it won’t last forever.”
    A passionate wine enthusiast, Denz dreams of the day Faugères, which already enjoys an excellent reputation, will produce a Saint-Emilion premier grand cru. To boost quality and image—and be on the safe side of the INAO rules—he commissioned what is now the most architecturally adventurous winery in Bordeaux. “The fact that it is located about a quarter mile from the estate’s historic residence made it easier to opt for contemporary design,” he explains. “There was no danger of clashing styles.”
    After considering several other world-renowned architects, he asked Mario Botta if he would be interested in the project. “He replied that at his age, he only takes on work that he really enjoys,” recalls Denz. “So he agreed to make a sketch, and if I liked it, great; if not, we would part as friends. The moment I saw it, I loved it.” The striking €8 million winery was inaugurated this past September, just in time for the 2009 harvest.
    Perched on a hill amid the rolling Saint-Emilion vineyards, Botta’s “cathedral of wine,” as he likes to call it, possesses a commanding presence worthy of any Bordeaux château yet is neither flamboyant nor extravagant. Indeed, the award-winning Swiss architect, who also designed San Francisco’s MoMA, says his objective was simply to evoke the mutually beneficial relationship between this terroir and the men who turn its fruit into wine.
    The most impressive part of the design is a central tower, whose lofty belvedere offers fabulous views of the vineyards as well as Faugères’s beautifully restored 18th-century chartreuse and old chais, now used exclusively for Castillon wines. Built of reinforced concrete covered with honey-colored Spanish limestone (the closest match to Saint-Emilion’s famous limestone, now exhausted), it provides expansive quarters for offices, tasting rooms and reception and dining areas. Rows of tiny square openings are punched out of its sides, adding texture by day and magic by night, when they are aglow with 248 LED lights.
    The more discreet, horizontal section built into the hillside houses the vat room, barrel cellar and other technical areas; taking advantage of the topography, it divides the winemaking process among several different floors, thus facilitating the use of gravity at every stage. The above-ground level is designed to blend into the surroundings, thanks to fragrant rooftop plantings of lavender, rosemary and sedum.
    Inside, every detail of this winery has quality written all over it. Oenologist extraordinaire Michel Rolland, who has consulted with Faugères for two decades, worked with the estate’s winemaking team to put together a brief that specified equipment and workflow. Faugères wines are now given every imaginable advantage, from refrigerated rooms that chill grapes before sorting to revolutionary optical sorters to the Rolls-Royce of wine presses. It also boasts an array of vats made from French oaks averaging 120 years of age. “The limestone soil here produces tannic, highly structured wines,” explains Denz. “They need wood.” And only the best would do.
    The ultimate in attention and quality are lavished on the estate’s Péby Faugères. Launched in 1998 by Corinne Guisez in memory of her late husband, Pierre-Bernard (Péby), it is a 100 percent Merlot made from the property’s best parcels. Now it is vinified in 50 French oak barrels, each holding about 200 kilos of grapes that are manually rotated five to six times a day for about 10 days. “It’s very artisanal and very rare to make wine this way,” says estate manager Alain Dourthe. “Only about five or six Bordeaux châteaux do it, but the results are fantastic: silky, supple tannins and strong fruit.”
    Denz, whose other businesses include Lalique crystal, brings both an intense competitive drive and a deep sense of stewardship of this historic property. Like other passionate winemakers here, he feels that he has been entrusted with an extraordinary and unique terroir, and that it is his mission to allow it to express itself as fully and exquisitely as possible. Preserving the environment goes hand in hand with that mandate. “Faugères is one of only a handful of Bordeaux estates to be certified ISO 14001,” he points out. “Protecting nature and the environment is extremely important to us—and essential for future generations.” chateau-faugeres.com

	CHÂTEAU LA LOUVIÈRE ANDRÉ LURTON'S CROWN JEWEL > PESSAC-LÉOGNAN

This past June, 84-year-old André Lurton invited some 400 guests to La Louvière to inaugurate his monumental new barrel cellar. As the ceremonial red ribbon fluttered to the ground, the crowd burst into emotional applause, and more than one onlooker was teary-eyed. Those in attendance knew that this might well be the last great hurrah for Lurton, whose dogged determination has helped him build a portfolio of six châteaux but has also benefited winemakers throughout the region. A leader of numerous professional associations, he notably spent no fewer than 23 years fighting for the creation of the Pessac-Léognan appellation.
    A member of the famous Lurton wine dynasty (begun by his grandfather, who leveraged his thriving distillery business to buy several vineyards), he inherited Château Bonnet in the Entre-Deux-Mers appellation. Although this gave him a start, his story is very different from those of the moneyed industrialists and multinationals that have recently moved into the area, buying up vineyards and immediately bankrolling multimillion-dollar renovations. Lurton has built his empire brick by brick, investing money only as he made it.
    “Every time he has acquired a vineyard, he has done everything he can to improve the wine,” says journalist Didier Ters, who is writing a book on the history of La Louvière. “He has always had a passion for innovation and new technologies.” Among other things, Lurton created a nursery to raise his own rootstocks, founded an oenological research center and was among the first to adopt machines that sort grapes by gauging their sugar density.
    When Lurton bought La Louvière in 1965, it was in a state of neglect. Bit by bit, he restored the late-18th-century château and progressively overhauled vineyard practices and winemaking techniques. “La Louvière produces great white wines, and while the reds are very good, they have never quite reached the level of the whites,” says Ters. “For years, André has been obsessed with improving them.”
    This ambition was very much on Lurton’s mind in 2005, when he launched a multi-year project calling for a new vat room and barrel cellar for white wines as well as renovated offices, reception rooms, a visitors center, a boutique and other facilities. The revamp would culminate with the construction of an extraordinary chai for aging the estate’s red wines.
    Lurton went all out, commissioning a vaulted 16,000-square-foot cellar that can hold up to 1,200 casks (800 is typical). The vast concrete structure has two rows of columns supporting three naves, and is almost entirely below ground, with vines planted on top. “This design satisfied the Bâtiments de France officials, who had to authorize our plans, given that the château is a registered national monument,” explains architect Jean-Claude Duprat. “From a distance, the cellar is completely invisible.” This solution also eliminated the need for air conditioning, in keeping with the estate’s eco-friendly practices. But just in case Bordeaux experiences another heat wave like the one in 2003, Duprat installed a system of pipes snaking through the ceiling, making it possible to cool the room by circulating cold water.
    Since October, the 2009 vintage has been aging quietly in this grand new cellar, marking the official end of the renovations. La Louvière is now a magnificent showcase for the principles that have guided Lurton’s life’s work: the protection of Bordeaux’s historic heritage and the relentless pursuit of quality. andrelurton.com