Under One Roof, Two Wines of Different Classifications Live Side by Side. So Who, in the End, Owns That Roof?

Last time, when we visited the Second Growth Château Léoville Barton, we left one mystery unresolved. This producer has no building of its own in which to make wine. Despite being a classified château, its wine has been made on a neighboring property ever since the estate was acquired in 1826 — or so the story went.

So what, exactly, is that "neighboring property"? The answer is another classified château that passed into the hands of the same Barton family five years before Léoville Barton did. Its name is Château Langoa Barton. Classified as a Third Growth (Troisième Cru), this château is not merely the landlord to its neighbor — it is an independent classified estate with its own vintages and its own second wine.

We tend to assume that the 1855 Classification assigned a single rank to each château. But tracing the story of Langoa Barton unravels that assumption. Under one roof, two wines of different classifications have lived side by side for two hundred years. This time, we trace the story of the owner of that roof.

Monsieur Pontet's Manor, and the Name the Barton Family Left on It

The Chartreuse-style manor house that stands today was built in 1758 by a man named Monsieur Pontet. At that time, the estate carried only the name "Langoa" and had no connection to the Barton family.

Ownership changed hands in 1821, when Hugh Barton acquired the Langoa estate from its owner at the time, Pierre-Bernard de Pontet. The château's name was changed to Château Langoa Barton, taking the name of its new owner. The manor house itself did not change. Only the name of its owner did.

The Neighbor Born Five Years Later — One Roof, Two Classifications

Just five years after acquiring Langoa, in 1826, Hugh Barton made his next move. This time he acquired part of the neighboring Léoville estate. But this land came without a building. This is how Château Léoville Barton came into being.

Where was this newly created château, with no building of its own, to make its wine? The answer stood right in front of it: the manor house and cellars of Langoa, acquired just five years earlier. For roughly two hundred years since, the wine of Léoville Barton (Second Growth) has been made inside this building belonging to Langoa Barton (Third Growth). Even the building depicted on the Léoville Barton label is, in fact, a picture of this Langoa manor house. What the label has been telling us all along was the face of the house next door.

This is not a relationship between a wine and its second wine. Two separate châteaux, independently classified as Second Growth and Third Growth in 1855, continue to be born in parallel under a single roof. Langoa's own second wine, Lady Langoa, is likewise sent out into the world from this same manor house. Recorded as two different ranks — Second Growth and Third Growth — yet made in a single place: that is the fact at the heart of this building.

The Manor House the Family Has Kept — Passing to the Next Generation in 2022

The owner of this manor house did not change even after the 1855 Classification. The Barton family is known, among classified châteaux, as an example of long-term ownership by a single family, having held the same estate for more than two hundred years. In 1983, following the death of his uncle Ronald Barton, Anthony Barton took over management.

Anthony Barton himself passed away on 19 January 2022, at the age of 91. Since then, his daughter Lilian Barton-Sartorius has stood at the center of management, while her son Damien Barton-Sartorius leads day-to-day operations as general manager. Another daughter, Mélanie Barton-Sartorius, became the first member of the family to pursue a career as a winemaker, and now serves as technical director of the sister estate Château Mauvesin Barton. Under the roof of this manor house, two wines — a Second Growth and a Third Growth — continue to be made side by side to this day.

Three Facts Worth Knowing

• The building and cellars of Château Langoa Barton produce not only their own Third Growth wine, but also the wine of their neighbor, the Second Growth Château Léoville Barton. This is not a relationship between a wine and its second wine — two independently classified châteaux are born in parallel under a single roof.
• Langoa Barton's own second wine is Lady Langoa. It, too, is sent out into the world from this same manor house.
• The Barton family is known, among classified châteaux, as an example of long-term ownership by a single family, having held the same estate for more than two hundred years. Following the death of Anthony Barton in 2022, the estate has passed to the next generation, with his daughter Lilian Barton-Sartorius at its center.