Château Olivier

Château Olivier is located 11 km from Bordeaux, in the heart of a 220-hectare estate comprising meadows around the château, century-old oak trees, pine woods and a 60-hectare vineyard. The Olivier seigneury dates back to the 12th century. Tributes paid by its lords to the king can be traced back to 1273 and feudal acknowledgements to 1332. It is said that the Black Prince, who took up residence in Bordeaux from 1362 to 1373, often went to Olivier in the company of the most famous knights of Aquitaine and England to hunt wild beasts in the great woods of Léognan. In 1663, Marie de Lasserre, daughter of the lord of Olivier, married Pierre, baron of La Brède and gave him Olivier as a dowry. His only daughter married Messire Jacques de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu, who gave birth to the famous writer. In 1867, Alexandre de Bethmann, from a family of Protestant bankers established in Bordeaux since the 18th century, became co-owner of Gruaud-Larose and held the position of Mayor of Bordeaux. The Château Olivier estate came into the family through the marriage of his grandson, Jacques de Bethmann, who is the great-grandfather of the current owners. While the site has been listed as a picturesque site in the Gironde since 1946, the château, outbuildings, orangery, moat and fountain have been listed as historic monuments since 1963. In 1982, Jean-Jacques de Bethmann took over the direct management of the Château Olivier estate. In 2002, he recruited Laurent Lebrun as Managing Director. An exhaustive study of the terroirs was carried out on the entire estate, enabling the exceptionally diverse parcels of land to be managed as effectively as possible. In 2021, Éléonore de Bethmann succeeded her brother Alexandre and took over the reins of Château Olivier, marking a new stage in the history of this family, which has owned the estate for more than 136 years.