One Family Owns Two Classified Châteaux of Different Growths: The Guillemet Family Links Château Pouget and Château Boyd-Cantenac

The Guillemet family owns two classified châteaux in Margaux. Château Pouget, held by the family since 1906, is a Fourth Growth. Château Boyd-Cantenac, acquired in 1932, is a Third Growth. Although one family operates both, the official list records them as separate estates of different growths.

This relationship can be explained through the verified links of the Guillemet family and the current organization alone. The geographical relationship between the estates is not included among the facts established for this page. Château Pouget's own name and chronology begin earlier, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

The setting is Margaux in the Médoc, and the current list maintained by the 1855 Classification Council records Château Pouget as a Fourth Growth.

The story has three distinct lines: the estate's starting point, the process by which the surname Pouget became its name, and the twentieth-century history that brought two châteaux of different growths under one family. Preserving that order prevents today's common ownership from being projected backward onto the origin of the name.

The Owner in 1650 and the Surname That Became the Estate's Name in 1748

The first owner named in the official history is Étienne Monteil in 1650. At this point, the estate had not yet been connected with the surname “Pouget.” The turning point leading to its present name came nearly a century later.

In 1748, François-Antoine Pouget inherited the estate. The Château Pouget website explains that the château took the name “Pouget” in the year he assumed responsibility for the property. Its present name therefore comes from the surname of the person who inherited and led the estate.

In 1771, his daughter Claire married Pierre-Antoine de Chavailles. The year 1748, when the surname became the estate's name, and the marriage in 1771, which opened the next chapter of the family history, are separate milestones. The marriage should not be treated as the origin date of the name; the question is whose surname became the estate's name and when.

Sequestration, Return, and the Fourth Growth Classification in 1855

During the revolutionary period, the estate was sequestered. According to the official history, the family recovered it in 1798 after the administration lifted the sequestration, but not everything was returned intact. A portion was confiscated and incorporated into the national domain. The year 1798 therefore records both a return and a partial loss, rather than a simple restoration.

After this episode, Château Pouget was classified in 1855 as a Fourth Growth (Quatrième Cru). The current Classification Council list also records “Château POUGET” in Margaux as a Fourth Growth. This establishes its place within the classification system; the account does not extend into price, assessment, taste, or comparisons of merit with other estates.

The official history records ownership, sequestration, and return around the revolutionary period, but this article does not add details about each affected parcel or the extent incorporated into the national domain. Keeping only the documented dates and events shows that the estate was not inherited in an unchanged form along one uninterrupted line.

The Guillemet Family from 1906 and Another Classified Château Added in 1932

In 1906, the Guillemet family acquired Château Pouget. The official website states that the estate has remained in the family's hands since that year. Its current technical director is Lucien Guillemet. Another classified château entered this family chronology 26 years later.

In 1932, the Guillemet family also acquired Château Boyd-Cantenac. A comparison of the corrected, previously published page 26 with the current official list establishes that Boyd-Cantenac is a Third Growth and Pouget a Fourth Growth. The same family therefore holds two classified châteaux of different growths.

The Château Boyd-Cantenac website states that Lucien Guillemet and his nephew Olivier Salques now continue the family's management. Its legal notice also gives a website publisher's corporate name containing both Boyd-Cantenac and Pouget. This confirms a corporate link between the two, but does not establish that they are one estate or share parcels.

What can be confirmed as shared is the line of family ownership and organization; each estate retains its own name and classification. The name Pouget dates from 1748, its classification is the Fourth Growth of 1855, and Guillemet family ownership dates from 1906. The connection with Boyd-Cantenac does not replace Château Pouget's own chronology.

The second wine, Antoine Pouget, was named as a tribute to François-Antoine Pouget, whom the official page calls the founder of the estate. It preserves the name of the person whose surname became the property name in 1748 rather than that of the current owning family. The principal label and second wine thus carry different-length forms of the same personal history.

Three Facts Worth Knowing

• Château Pouget takes its name from the surname of François-Antoine Pouget, who inherited the estate in 1748. This is a separate milestone from the 1771 marriage of his daughter Claire.
• The estate was returned in 1798 after its sequestration during the revolutionary period, but a portion was lost to the national domain. It was later classified as a Fourth Growth in 1855.
• The Guillemet family has held the Fourth Growth Château Pouget since 1906 and the Third Growth Château Boyd-Cantenac since 1932. This page limits the connection between them to the verified facts of ownership and organization.