Chateau Palmer

In 1938, four Bordeaux families – Sichel, Mähler-Besse, Ginestet, and Miailhe – all active in the Bordeaux fine wine trade – joined together to buy Palmer and restore it to the rank it deserved. Two of these families have since left the estate, leaving the Sichel and the Mähler-Besse families at the helm. Since their acquisition of Château Palmer, the families of shareholders have applied single-mindedly the key principles that contributed to the prosperity of this great wine: authenticity, quality and constancy. Thanks to their sustained uncompromising efforts, this exceptional terroir continues to produce outstanding wines, sought after by wine lovers throughout the world.

Originally from the Netherlands, the Mälher family were successful in the textile and the wine business. Having settled in Bordeaux with his wife Marguerite Besse, Frédérick Mälher, the founder of the Franco-Dutch dynasty, set out a wine trade. His friends, Sichel, Miailhe and Ginestet convinced him to join them in 1938 in their Château Palmer venture. Today, their descendants remain active partners and enthusiastically encourage continuing the adventure.

Maison Sichel, which specializes in distributing fine wines in the United Kingdom, was founded by Allan Sichel (1900-1967). In 1938, he joined his associates to buy Château Palmer. It was out of love for the wines of Bordeaux that he set out on this seemingly crazy enterprise at a particularly hard time even for the greatest of châteaux. His son Peter (1931-1998), as passionate as his father and endowed with as much business acumen, settled in Bordeaux in 1960, where he married Diana, also from England. Today their children carry on their parent's work.

The managers

Edouard Miailhe took on the heavy responsibility of managing the estate during the German occupation. After the tragic events of World War II and the deterioration of the château by German troops, the 1950s saw the regeneration of the vineyard under the management of Jean Bouteiller (1913-1962), Frédérick Mähler's son-in-law. One of Bouteiller's sons, Bertrand, took over from him until 2004. Having spent forty-two years at the head of the estate, it is not too much to say that he devoted his entire life to Palmer. Bertrand Bouteiller remembers the 1961 vintage. Made with his father's help, the vintage was to become a legend in the history of Château Palmer, re-establishing the status of Palmer as one of the greatest Bordeaux wines. Under his management, the Chardon family, whose members are still connected to the château today, handled day-to-day affairs.

In 2004, the shareholders put a young agronomist and œnologist in his thirties, Thomas Duroux, at the head of Château Palmer. For Duroux, who already had experience working at some of the greatest wineries around the world (in California, Italy, and elsewhere), coming back to his native Bordeaux was a deeply emotional experience. The shareholders entrusted him with the task of guiding Château Palmer through a quiet revolution: continually raising the level of excellence, answering market expectations, and innovating while respect the past. For Château Palmer, this is more than a periodic revitalization; it is part of an ongoing process of renewal that started long ago and continues to this day.