Château Cos d'Estournel

The estate was founded in the 19th century by wine merchant Louis-Gaspard Estournel. He pursued the goal of producing wines in the vicinity of Château Lafite-Rothschild. For this purpose, Estournel acquired the gravelly hills north of Lafite and began construction. A unique aspect of his trading strategy was the transport of his wines to India and back, as he noticed that the returned wines exhibited improved quality. He marked these wines with an “R” for “Retour des Indes.” Despite the success of this method, the high costs of construction and sea transport led to his financial ruin. In 1852, he was forced to sell the estate to his London banker, Martyns. Estournel passed away shortly before his life's work was officially classified in 1855 as a “Deuxième Grand Cru Classé,” the second-highest category.