The Man Who Sold Mouton, and the Hill He Chose Next

Last time, in the story of Château Mouton Rothschild, we traced where the image of the "sheep" had come from. But the land of Mouton holds a chapter we have not yet told. Twenty-three years before Baron Nathaniel de Rothschild purchased the estate in 1853, this hill in Pauillac belonged to a baron. His name was Hector de Brane.

He gave up this estate and sold it to a Parisian banker. With the proceeds in hand, he then turned to neighboring Cantenac. Even though it meant leaving Pauillac — the commune where three of the five First Growths of the 1855 Classification are concentrated — he chose the hill of Cantenac. Why? The answer lies in the path this hill would go on to take.

The Hill the Baron Gave Up, the Hill He Chose

Baron Hector de Brane held an estate in Pauillac. But in 1830, he gave up this estate and sold it to a Parisian banker. Twenty-three years later, in 1853, the land passed into the hands of Baron Nathaniel de Rothschild and was transformed into Château Mouton Rothschild — the name we told the story of among the five First Growths.

Just three years after the sale, in 1833, Baron de Brane acquired new land in neighboring Cantenac — an estate that had formerly belonged to the Gorce family. He gave it his own name, calling it "Brane-Cantenac." As for who drove the extensive replanting and modernization of the vineyard, French specialist sources tend to favor the account crediting his son, Jacques-Maxime, though some sources attribute it to the baron himself. Either way, it was this family that transformed the hill. He had given up Pauillac — the commune where three of the five First Growths of the 1855 Classification are concentrated — and it was this hill he staked his bet on.

The Second Growth That Never Changed Its Name

In 1855, in the classification drawn up for the Paris Exposition, Brane-Cantenac was ranked a Second Growth. Among the other Second Growth châteaux, quite a few — Léoville, Rauzan, and Pichon, for example — later saw their vineyards or names split into several estates. Brane-Cantenac, by contrast, was recorded in the classification under the name settled on in the 1830s, and that name has remained unchanged ever since.

The château's second wine was once named "Château Notton," a name taken from a principal parcel of the vineyard. It was later renamed "Baron de Brane," after the baron himself. The exact year of the change is not clearly recorded, but here too, the name of the man who chose this hill lives on.

The Lurton Family: A Century Without Interruption

In 1925, Léonce Récapet acquired the château. His son-in-law François Lurton joined the management, and ownership by the Lurton family has continued without interruption ever since. In 2025, this ownership reached exactly its hundredth year.

Leading the estate today is Henri Lurton, the fourth generation counting from Récapet. He has led operations since 1992, and in 2022 he passed ownership to his own children. Even so, it is Henri himself who remains at the forefront of management, supported on the operational side by director Christophe Capdeville. Nearly two hundred years after the man who gave up the hill in Pauillac — the hill in Cantenac continues to carry a story that is still being passed on to the next generation.

Three Facts Worth Knowing

• The land of Château Brane-Cantenac originally belonged to an estate Baron Hector de Brane held in Pauillac. The land he gave up in 1830 later became Château Mouton Rothschild.
• It was ranked a Second Growth in the 1855 Classification. Unlike other Second Growth châteaux that saw their names divided or changed, the name "Brane-Cantenac," settled on in the 1830s, has continued unchanged to this day.
• The second wine "Baron de Brane" was renamed from its former name, "Château Notton." Ownership by the Lurton family has continued since 1925, reaching its hundredth anniversary in 2025.