The Laffitte Family
Genuine
& passionate
To make good wine, it’s not enough to have great grapevines and a good amount of sunshine. There is the invisible and the unsaid, what we learn and what is passed down to us.
If today Jean-Marc, Ericka and Joris have expertise, they owe it to their apprenticeship obviously but also to something way more subtle: the inheritance of know-how, a wine-grower DNA.
For instance, here at Château Laffitte Teston, we do not analyze our grapes. We taste them; we recognize their quality only by taste. This is our trademark: a constantly controlled quality, the result of an expertise fixed in our genes.
Passion runs through our veins like sap runs through vine stock.
Our wine is like our family: sincere, exacting, generous but also atypical !
As you have realized, here expertise, like our estate, is transmitted from one generation to the other in true, local tradition.
One of the founding characters of the family is a great-grandfather who was a coachman in Paris who came here to get married. Legend has it that he loved red wine so much that he decided to paint the shutters of the house that color! Amongst the other key figures of the family were a grandfather who was a member of the French National Rugby Team and a grandmother, who was a local discus champion and a mandolin player! Strong personalities with a lot of character! It is not surprising that the name « Teston » has the same root in French as the word « Head », proving once again that we are strong-headed!
It is Jean-Marc, the farmer, who greatly contributed to the development of the domain. The family owned 40 hectares (100 acres), including 8 (19 acres) of grapevines. After doing polyculture, Jean-Marc turned completely towards grapevines and took the next step in the 70’s by bottling his own wine. Today, the family owns around 50 hectares (123 acres) of grapevines.
In the Laffitte family, we all enjoy working together, but we also know how important it is to be surrounded by the right people. This is the reason why there would not be a Château Laffitte Teston domain without a close and loyal team, united by sharing fundamental values such as mutual assistance, kindness and attention to details.
This safe environment brings out the best in everyone. It is this deep passion for wine-making that Jean-Marc has always had and is now passing down to his children.
Continuity is ensured by Ericka, who joined the family business in 2002 after oenological studies. Her brother Joris joined the business two years after her, after obtaining an oenological diploma as well.
The main goal of the new generation is simple: to ensure continuity and keep on producing the best varietals of wine, while maintaining a constant quality. There are no compromises in the search of excellence.
Madiran wine is often depicted as a « Rustic » wine but here, we offer a delicate and classy wine, with a modern and fun twist, just like the new generation. Ericka et Joris are offering a fine and easy to drink wine with its silky tannin, less aggressive and more balanced.
With our production of Madiran, Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh and Côtes-de-Gascogne, we offer you three colors, so you’ll want to try them all.
In our domain,we like to innovate, and we like new challenges. For example, in 2011/2012, we decided to store for a dozen barrels 800 meters underground (2625 feet) in the natural caves of Betharram for a few months to mature our wine. The result was the production of 1 500 one-of-a-kind bottles of wine !
Our wish is to make our domain a place where people would not only taste our wine but also a place to connect with nature and the people around us.
The beautiful abode is built on a hill, in the heart of a magnificent scenery of grapevines. The panoramic view with the vineyard and the lake makes it a stop not to be missed.
Phone
+33 (0)5 62 69 74 58
Open all year round
9:00am–12:30pm / 2:00pm–5:30pm
(Monday to Friday)
9:00am–12:30pm, afternoon by appointment (Saturday)