Business mogul buys 50% stake in d’Issan

Businessman, rugby backer and vineyard owner Jacky Lorenzetti has expanded his wine interests by acquiring a 50% stake in Margaux third growth Château D’Issan.

Margaux third growth Château d’Issan

The Left Bank estate has been owned by the Cruse family since 1945, but there is understood to have been disagreement between its two branches about how the estate should be managed.

According to a statement from the Cruse family’s lawyers, “The members of the Roland Cruse family branch have given up their equal share in Château d’Issan to the Ovalto group, belonging to Mr Lorenzetti, already owner of châteaux Lilian Ladouys and Pédesclaux.”

The move will see Lorenzetti work alongside d’Issan’s manager, Emmanuel Cruse, who has previously acted as a consultant for the businessman’s Pauillac and St Estephe properties.

Lorenzetti, who founded the property firm Foncia in the 1970s, is also a keen rugby union fan and president of the Paris-based Racing Métro 92 team.

In addition to d’Issan’s 40 hectares within Margaux, from which it produces grand vin Château d’Issan and second wine Blason d’Issan, the company also makes Moulin d’Issan and Le Haut-Médoc d’Issan from a further 13ha of vineyard holdings across Bordeaux Supérieur and Haut-Médoc.

First documented in the 12^th century, when its wine was served at the marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine to Henry Plantagenet, Château d’Issan’s was rescued from neglect during the first half of the 20^th century by the Cruse family.

During the last 15 years of stewardship by Emmanuel Cruse, a number of critics and merchants have remarked on the improvement in quality of the wines. Alun Griffiths MW, former wine buying director of Berry Brothers & Rudd described the 2011 Château d’Issan as “One of the real finds in the Margaux appellation.”