Everyone with a passing knowledge of wine has heard of Château Margaux.
But what about Château Pauillac? This estate in Saint-Lambert, in the southern part of the Pauillac appellation. close to Châteaux Latour and Pichon Baron, receives good reviews and scores of 90-94 from James Suckling and the Wine Advocate. Wines – usually a 60:40 – 70:30 Cabernet Sauvignon-Merlot blend – are made with help from Michel Rolland and command prices of around $125.
So why isn’t this estate better known? The simple answer is that it is tiny. With under two hectares (5 acres) of land, it produces as little as 300 cases per year: a drop in the Bordeaux ocean.
The legal case
But, as the French publication Vitisphere reports, some people have been focusing a lot of attention on this estate – but not on the quality of its wines. The object of interest for French lawyers, officials and trademark experts is the legality of the name.
An estate called Château Pauillac may have featured in the 1874 edition of Cocks & Ferret, the authoritative directory of Bordeaux estates, but when the name was acquired by Domaines Peyronie, owners of another Pauillac estate, Chateau Fonbadet, in 1971, the purchase involved no vines. When the Bordeaux Judicial Court also established in November 2021 that there was no evidence that Domaines Peyronie owned any land historically associated with the brand, it decided that the name should no longer be used.
In her judgement, Caroline Raffray, vice-president of the court, said "the use of the trademark 'Château Pauillac' on the labels of the wine it has been marketing since 1970 [... ...] does not give it a private right to the name 'Pauillac' since it does not constitute a prolonged and well-known use supported by historical circumstances and an uninterrupted and indisputable chain of rights to this name. It is in fact common ground that the long-standing use of a trademark does not erase its unlawful character. A trademark can be challenged even after a long period of use during which no remark has been made.”
Labelling a wine as Chateau Pauillac could, according to the court “mislead the consumer by relying on the illicit appropriation of the Pauillac appellation of origin, and consequently of the prestige associated with it.” Instructions were issued to France’s official registry - the Institut National de la Protection Industrielle (INPI) – to cancel the trademark.
Domaines Peyronie, who are presenting the 2021 vintage of Chateau Pauillac to professionals tasting the En Primeurs, has told Vitisphère that they intend to appeal against the ruling and feel confident in doing so successfully.
Room for expansion
If that confidence proves to be justified, the world might become a little more familiar with Chateau Pauillac. It would be perfectly legal for Domaines Peyronie - or any subsequent owner of that business - to increase production significantly over time by, for example, giving it some of Chateau Fonbadet’s 11.5ha of vineyards. This procedure is not unknown in Bordeaux and has often proved a lucrative move.
Chateau Fonbadet is also very well regarded; a bottle can be bought in the US for $35-50 - less than half the price of Chateau Pauillac.
