The seismic decision, communicated in a letter from the Guinaudeau family on 24 August, was described as a necessary response to accelerating climate change and the increasing restrictions posed by the appellation system.
‘The vintages 2015, 2019, and above all 2022, were all strong evidence of [climate change]. 2025 goes a step further. We must think, readapt, act,’ the family wrote.
The move places one of Bordeaux’s most respected names outside of its historic framework ‘while maintaining the utmost respect for our fellow producers and the appellations of Pomerol and Bordeaux’.
Its decision places it in the company of a small but influential group of domaines that have turned their backs on France’s strict AOC framework in favour of greater creative freedom.
Château Lafleur, Pomerol
Other outsiders
In Bordeaux, Loïc Pasquet’s Liber Pater has long eschewed the Graves classification to revive pre-phylloxera varieties and ultra-dense plantings, while in the Languedoc the late Laurent Vaillé elevated Grange des Pères to cult status outside any appellation.
In the Jura, Jean-François Ganevat often bottles as Vin de France to explore eclectic blends, and domaines such as Gramenon in the Rhône and La Grange aux Belles in the Loire have also done the same after clashing with appellation rules.
Yet Lafleur is the first of Bordeaux’s top tier, with six highly sought-after wines, to break with the AOC system – a move that underscores both the estate’s singular vision and the mounting pressures of climate change on traditional models.
Rigid rules
For Lafleur, the break comes from the need for flexibility in viticulture and winemaking practices as heatwaves, drought, and shifting weather patterns increasingly challenge Bordeaux’s traditional rules.
Issues such as irrigation restrictions, planting densities, and permitted grape varieties have been hotly debated in Bordeaux as producers adapt to the hotter, drier conditions that characterised 2022 and on-going 2025.
While experimental plantings have been sanctioned under the Bordeaux appellation since 2021, many argue that the changes remain too slow to keep pace with reality.
By stepping away from Pomerol AOC regulations, the Guinaudeau family says it will be free to implement practices that ensure the ‘perennity of our vineyards, the quality and the identity of our wines’ without compromise. ‘We change to remain the same,’ the family wrote in the letter.
Chateau Lafleur’s winemaker Omri Ram in the vines
Château Lafleur, founded in 1872, has been under the stewardship of the Guinaudeau family since 1985 and is widely considered one of Bordeaux’s most singular estates, producing some of the region’s most sought-after wines. Its decision will affect all six red and white wines within the group, including Grand Village and Les Champs Libres.
The announcement comes just as the 2025 harvest begins, with early tastings already described by the family as ‘shaping up not just as a great vintage, but as an extraordinary one.’
Lafleur’s break with the appellation system underscores the tension between tradition and innovation in Bordeaux at a moment when climate volatility is reshaping the region’s future.
