In September I was fortunate to interview Veronique Bonnie, co-owner, Château Malartic-Lagravière, Gazin Rocquencourt, and DiamAndes when she visited Dallas. We tasted wines from their Bordeaux brands (Château Malartic-Lagravière and Gazin Rocquencourt) and Argentina/Mendoza estates and discussed their extensive outreach campaign. The Argentina-French connection seems to elevate the three wine brands. See Wine Recommendations below for examples of the highly rated wines. I found the three wine brands to be diversely wonderful and approachable today. The white Bordeaux has been a consistent favorite of mine over time.
Chateau Malartic-Lagravière has been a modern Bordeaux leader in advertising their current portfolio of wines via product placements on Netflix, YouTube, international films, and at Hollywood charity events.
Veronique Bonnie and Helen Mirren at the American Cinamatheque Awards
Educational seminars on YouTube: “Le Grand Voyage” – and 40-part series about Bordeaux - Episode 2 The US Presidents – An interesting episode that encompasses Thomas Jefferson, Ronald Reagan, and Richard Nixon.
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About Château Malartic-Lagravière, Bordeaux
Château Malartic-Lagravière, a Grand Cru Classé (classification of 1953 for both red and white wine) in the Pessac- Léognan region of Bordeaux, has been owned by the Bonnie family for over 20 years. However, the vineyards of Domaine de La Gravière and the ownership by Count Hippolyte Maurès de Malartic began at the end of the eighteenth century. The emblem of the Three Masts celebrates a subsequent owner, Laurent Ridoret, a captain of an ocean-going vessel and great navigator. Even the Laurent-Perrier group was an owner prior to the Bonnie family. After the 1997 acquisition the vineyards were a top priority with an updated agro-ecological approach given. Winemaking consultants like Michel Rolland and Eric Boissenot gave advice with the intention of producing the deeper, more precise, balanced wines of today. Currently Benoît Prévoteau is Vineyard technical Director and Cécile Bernier is Wine technical Director. The wines are widely distributed throughout the world with close to 18,000 cases produced each vintage. Currently the winery just won “Gold Best of Wine Tourism 2024,” from Great Wine Capitals for its gastronomic “lunches at the Chateau”, series of wine experiences.
Voted by Forbes,2023, “One of the 2023 World’s 50 Best Vineyards 2023” and by Great Wine Capitals, “Best Winery Restaurant in Argentina 2021”, DiamAndes has compelled me to move up a Mendoza, Argentina wine trip to “next wine regions to visit.” Great wine, beautiful architecture, contemporary Argentinean cuisine sounds like a winning combination. Diam’s Restaurant offers seven course meals under the leadership of Chef Santiago Orozco Russo.
In 2005 the Bonnie family embarked on the Argentinean adventure purchasing Clos de los Siete single estate. At the foothills of the Andes Mountains and at an altitude of 3600+ feet, this estate in the Uco Valley in Mendoza has the ideal terroir for growing wine grapes with aging potential including the Grand Reserve Malbec and Grand Reserve Chardonnay. DiamAndes has been an organic certified vineyard since 2022.
