Why Was Haut-Brion the Only First Growth Chosen from Outside the Médoc?

When we traced the origins of the five First Growths, one name stood apart: Haut-Brion. Mouton, Margaux, Latour, and Lafite all stand in the Médoc. Haut-Brion alone is located in the Graves district, close to the city of Bordeaux.

The 1855 Classification was essentially a system for the red wines of the Médoc, with the sweet white wines of Sauternes classified separately. Why, then, was this one estate from Graves selected as a First Growth? The answer begins about 190 years earlier, in London.

The Pontac Family and the Name of the Hill

The château’s name is said to derive from the Celtic word briga, meaning a hill. In 1525, Jean de Pontac acquired this hill through marriage. The Pontac family began constructing the château here in 1549.

They would protect the estate for generations. Yet what transformed their story from that of landowners into something larger was the next step they took.

The Family That Opened London: the Answer to the Classification Mystery

On 10 April 1663, the diarist Samuel Pepys recorded an event at a London tavern: he had encountered a French wine called “Ho Bryan.” It is considered one of the earliest surviving references in the English-speaking world to a wine identified by name.

Three years later, in 1666, François-Auguste, son of the estate’s owner Arnaud III de Pontac, went to London with a French chef and opened a tavern known as Pontack’s Head. A portrait of his father Arnaud appeared on its sign. The tavern became known as a gathering place for London writers and prominent figures, and the name Haut-Brion is said to have spread through British society.

That step mattered later. The 1855 Classification was based not on a tasting but on trading records from 1815 to 1855. The reputation and commercial record the Pontac family had begun building in London more than a century earlier were still alive in the mid-19th century. This is why Haut-Brion alone could take a First Growth place despite being outside the Médoc. It is the answer to the question at the beginning.

From a Diplomat’s Table to an American Banker

At the beginning of the 19th century, the diplomat Talleyrand owned the château for three years, from 1801 to 1804. Ten years after he sold it, the banquets prepared by the chef Antonin Carême during the Congress of Vienna, beginning in 1814, are said to have served as a stage for French diplomacy. The phrase “the congress dances, but does not proceed” also dates from this era.

More than a century later, on 13 May 1935, the New York banker Clarence Dillon purchased the château. A story tells that, after seeing the estate during a visit to France the previous year, he received a telegram aboard his ship home saying he could buy it if he decided immediately.

Management then remained with the Dillon family. Dillon’s nephew Seymour Weller served as president for almost 50 years, followed by Douglas Dillon and then Douglas’s daughter Joan Dillon. Joan married Prince Charles of Luxembourg in 1967 and took control of the business in 1975. In 2008, their son Prince Robert of Luxembourg became chairman and CEO. He represents the fourth generation of the Dillon family and continues to lead the company today.

The château is not devoted to red wine alone. Haut-Brion Blanc has also been made in very small quantities for many years.

Three Facts Worth Knowing

• Haut-Brion was the only First Growth selected from outside the Médoc in 1855. It also appears in the 1959 Graves Classification, making it the only château included in both classification systems.
• The second wine Le Clarence de Haut-Brion is named after Clarence Dillon, the banker who purchased the château in 1935. The family name survives not only in the estate’s history but also in the name of a wine.
• Although it is often overshadowed by the red, Haut-Brion Blanc has long been made in small quantities.