Our commitments
Sustainable viticulture
Innovation as a driving force
Injustice as an enemy
Love of Art
Environment Sustainable viticulture
"The uncompromising pursuit of excellence has always been the watchword of this wonderful adventure and the pleasure that is mine: producing Great Wines and beautiful emotions."
Certification of our Vineyards
Innovation is at the heart of the Vineyards Bernard Magrez teams. It aims to improve our ecological performance in both vineyard and winery. To this end, Bernard Magrez began converting its Grands Crus Classés vineyards to the principles of agroecology in 2007. This commitment has resulted in HVE certification for Vineyards and ISO 14001 certification for all our Crus Classés, as well as Terra Vitis and Bee Friendly certification for Château Pape Clément.
Animal Traction
Since 2009, horses and oxen have been working together with precision to maintain the vines at Château Pape Clément. Thanks to this technical experience and the development of a specific tool, "La Pirogue", more than 30 hectares are now worked in this way. The Pôle d'Excellence de la Traction Animale, an internal development structure of the Bernard Magrez Group, has undertaken research and design work on modern soil-working equipment.
Zero herbicides
Since 2009, Bernard Magrez has also taken the firm decision to stop using herbicides in the vineyards, making way for natural grass cover. The inter-rows of Grands Crus Classés are mowed in winter by our flocks of sheep.
In search of the Grands Crus Classés of 2050
Based on current predictions of global warming, temperatures are set to rise by 2°C to 4°C by 2050. The question then arises: will Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc still be the grape varieties best suited to producing Grands Crus Classés Bordeaux wines? Will we have to change the way we grow them to preserve the aromatic palette and balance unique that characterize the great wines of Bordeaux?
In 2013, Bernard Magrez launched the visionary La Tour Carnet - Bordeaux 2050 project to analyze the effects of climate change on vines and ensure the quality of tomorrow's great Bordeaux wines.
The aim of this project is to test the adaptability of numerous grape varieties to the climate expected by 2050. Thanks to one of the world's largest experimental vats, a collection of over 90 grape varieties, the expertise of our technical teams and the academic knowledge of our researchers, this ambitious project is isolating and selecting new grape varieties that could complement Bordeaux wines in the future.
Producing tomorrow's wine today on a great terroir, by measuring the potential of these grape varieties as a means of adapting to climate change, is a perfect illustration of Bernard Magrez's determination never to give up innovating to guarantee the quality of our wines.
Passing on and sharing best practices
In 2016, Bernard Magrez's four Grands Crus Classés , along with Château Les Grands Chênes, joined the Bordeaux Wine Environmental Management System (EMS) association. It supports the project of collective certification through the exchange and sharing of best practices between companies in the Bordeaux wine industry wishing to commit to an environmental progress approach.
Biodiversity-friendly practices
The bee as a bioindicator to protect the environment
For the 4th year running, Château Pape Clément has been awarded the BEE FRIENDLY label for farmers committed to protecting pollinators, for our virtuous agricultural practices in favor of biodiversity.
By stopping the use of herbicides, increasing the variety of flowers in our gardens and installing beehives on our farm, we are actively helping to protect bees and preserve their habitat at Vineyard.
The bee is also a recognized bioindicator, taking high-frequency samples as it forages in the local environment (150,000 samples per day for one hive). For the past 3 years, beehives at Château Pape Clément have been equipped with Beeguard sensors, a startup supported by the Bernard Magrez startup incubator.
BeeGuard has created a solution for automatic, continuous biomonitoring of environmental impacts on pollinators, based on the measurement of bee activity and health. By providing essential metrics, we can make informed decisions and actively contribute to the preservation of our ecosystem.
Anticipating the effects of climate change on vines from space
Bernard Magrez is pursuing its initiatives to anticipate the effects of climate change on vines using state-of-the-art satellite imagery and forecasts with Deep Planet, a start-up member of the Bernard Magrez start-up incubator.
This company, founded by Oxford University researchers in 2018 and incubated by the European Space Agency, has been studying drought on plots at Vineyards of Château Pape Clément since 2021.
The aim of this unprecedented study is to explore the possibility of using data acquired by the Sentinel 2 satellite, which orbits 786 km above our heads, to identify with exceptional precision the areas of Vineyard most susceptible to drought. Using regular satellite images, Deep Planet's predictive algorithms provide dynamic information on the health of Vineyard.
The results will enable us to modify viticultural practices to develop resistance to heat waves in the years to come.
Innovation Innovation as a driving force
The incubator for innovative wine startups
More than 100 projects have already benefited from the support of the Bernard Magrez incubator. Launched in Bordeaux in 2021 at the heart of Vineyards , and extended to Strasbourg in 2023 at the crossroads of Europe, this incubator embodies the desire to give a boost to entrepreneurs with innovative ideas for the wine sector.
The project leaders, true drivers of innovation, reflect the challenges and evolutions of the wine world. Areas such as artificial intelligence, sustainable viticulture and environmental protection are taking center stage, and are emerging as major areas of development in the sector.
The incubator is entirely privately funded, with no recourse to public subsidies. It is first and foremost an entrepreneurial sponsorship initiative on the part of a visionary at the head of a company founded almost 60 years ago: Bernard Magrez.
High-precision optical sorters
Château Pape Clément, Grand Cru Classé de Graves, is breaking new ground for the 2023 harvest with the acquisition of 3 high-tech optical sorters. Designed by Californian company wecotek, this equipment excels at sorting small fruits such as blueberries, olives and grapes.
Equipped with four cameras and 64 air nozzles, they remove dry berries, pink berries and all green waste, ensuring an extremely fine selection of the best fruit.
This more efficient sorting allows Château Pape Clément to gain in precision and will undoubtedly improve the quality of the tannins and the aromatic brilliance of its wines.
Drones
To reinforce our technical expertise in precision viticulture on our 4 Grands Crus classés, we turned to the use of drones in 2013. This decision-support tool (OAD) enables us to monitor our Vineyards with great precision in a minimum of time. Today, this cutting-edge technology is an integral part of our work tools, leading our wines "towards excellence".
Authenticating our wines
Counterfeit bottles represent a growing market in the international wine trade. As part of our ongoing commitment to innovation, and to guarantee the authenticity of our 4 Grands Crus Classés, Bernard Magrez's House has been equipped with Prooftag technology since 2016.This solution enables us to affix a security seal and a fingerprint unique to each bottle.
Robotics
As part of its commitment to innovation and respect for the environment, Bernard Magrez has acquired a latest-generation electric vineyard robot for its Château Fombrauge, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru classé. A pioneer in the use of robotics for vine canopy maintenance (2015), Château Fombrauge is keen to extend its expertise in this new technological dynamic.
Manual ginning
The bunches of grapes freshly harvested by our pickers are placed on long tables equipped with a conveyor belt, around which our teams take care of each bunch and meticulously detach the berries one by one.
This engaging method, extended to several of our Vineyards sites, enables us to carefully select our finest grapes so that their aromatic potential is preserved throughout the winemaking process.
Solidarity The enemy of injustice
With his fervor and determination as his only luggage, Bernard Magrez has, over the decades, made his own luck. The world he has built reflects both his strength of character and his passions. With his extraordinary career path, the man never forgets that not everyone is born equal when it comes to prosperity.
"When we've had difficulties in our lives, we're more open to feeling pain in others and needing to lessen it."
Access to healthcare and education for children
He therefore supports La chaîne de l'espoir. La chaîne de l'espoir is an international medical NGO that has been in existence for 30 years, working in several countries around the world, including Nepal and Cambodia.
To combat inequitable access to healthcare and the desire to treat children, Bernard Magrez provides financial support for two projects in Asia. The first is in Nepal, to promote education and healthcare for children in vulnerable situations. The second, in Cambodia, to broaden the range of care available to children suffering from heart disease.
The fight against cancer
At the same time, his support for the fight against cancer in France earned him the Prix de La Charte de Paris.
Indeed, the Fondation Bergonié in Bordeaux and the International Center for Rare Tumor Research have benefited every year from his strong involvement for over 15 years. He is also a partner of the Institut International de Cancérologie de Paris, directed by Professor Khayat.
Sudden death
Bernard Magrez is also a major sponsor of theLiryc heart institute, a world leader in research into all aspects of sudden death.
It provides this Institute with the most innovative equipment to combat the scourge of heart rhythm defects, which kill over 50,000 people every year - more than the sum of lung, breast and colon cancers. A fact that is generally ignored.
Art & Culture The love of art
Bernard Magrez Cultural Institute
In 2010, the businessman founded his "Fondation Bernard Magrez", followed in 2011 by the "Institut Culturel Bernard Magrez" for artistic patronage.
The Institut Culturel Bernard Magrez is an exhibition space in Bordeaux housed in the Château Labottière.
Château Labottière takes its name from its patrons Antoine and Jacques Labottière. These two brothers, 18th-century printers and publishers from Bordeaux, built this neoclassical mansion in 1773.
Acquired by Bernard Magrez some twenty years ago, the Château was restored in the spring of 2011 to house the Institut Culturel Bernard Magrez, its contemporary art exhibitions, classical music concerts and high-profile conferences.
Bernard Magrez: artistic patronage
Set up as an endowment fund, the Institut Culturel Bernard Magrez is a private initiative for artistic patronage.
The Institut Culturel Bernard Magrez aims to be a bridge between tradition and innovation, as well as a platform for exchange where everyone can enjoy a unique cultural experience.
Bernard Magrez chose contemporary artists for this venue, not only out of personal taste, but also because of his awareness of the difficulty of gaining recognition in the effervescence of the contemporary art world.
It's also about making a unique contribution to the regional, national and international community in which the Institut Culturel Bernard Magrez is located.
This initiative is driven by one man's desire to share his love of art and artists. The Institut Culturel Bernard Magrez has thus created an original new space for cultural dissemination, encounters, exchange and creation, and is part of a desire to make contemporary art more accessible, so that it can be better understood and experienced in a setting of pleasure and contemplation.
The quartet from Château Pape Clément
As part of its mission to help artists it considers to be among the most difficult of professions, the Fondation Bernard Magrez selected four musicians who were already experienced but whose talent would ensure them an exemplary future, and entrusted each of them with instruments it had acquired as "World Treasures".
A Stradivarius violin designed by Antonio Stradivarius in 1713, considered to be his golden period. It was entrusted to Nicolas Dautricourt.
A 1788 cello by Ferdinando Gagliano, the luthier considered number 1 in cello production. This one was entrusted to François Salque.
A Cassini viola from 1660, entrusted to Lise Berthaud.
A Nicolas Lupot violin built in 1795, entrusted to Manon Galy.
Château Pape Clément is the only patron of the arts in the world to own four instruments deemed to be "world treasures".
Nicolas Dautricourt
"Tracing the history of the Stradivarius " Château Fombrauge ", which I am privileged to use, is an impossible task. Made in 1713 in the workshop of its Master in Cremona, Northern Italy, then in all likelihood criss-crossing Europe at the whim of its various owners, and finally resting for quite a long time in a London lutherie workshop before becoming the property of Monsieur Magrez in 2010, it would certainly not be illegitimate to interpret this last stage as the starting point of a second life, a rebirth, as it were.
A physical rebirth, and an artistic second wind too, for what could be more tragic for a musical instrument than to find itself orphaned, as it had been for so many years? So, if I stick strictly to my personal experience with this instrument, our meeting took place in December 2013, thanks to the initiative of Monsieur Magrez, who was at the time looking for a violinist who would "agree" to continue his career on his Stradivarius! I insist on the formula, because it made me jump!
Would you have to be crazy to decline such an invitation," I said to myself at the time, as if the answer wasn't self-evident! Of course, I replied that I was thrilled at the prospect, and then Monsieur Magrez, Madame Daquin and I met in the presence of the man with the four strings, after which I was informed that I was the lucky one.
François Salque
François Salque is now recognized as one of the most outstanding musicians of his generation. His musical depth and eclecticism have made him a key figure in the world of cello and chamber music. A graduate of Yale University and the Paris Conservatoire, François Salque won prizes at the most prestigious international competitions at an early age (Geneva, Tchaikovsky, Munich, Rostropovitch, Rose...). The "sensitivity and nobility of his playing" combined with "charisma and exceptional virtuosity" (Pierre Boulez) won him no fewer than 10 first prizes and as many special prizes. His teachers include Janos Starker, Paul Tortelier, Philippe Muller and Michel Strauss.
His concerts have already taken him to over sixty countries, and he has appeared as soloist with orchestras such as the Munich Radio Orchestra, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Monte Carlo Orchestra, the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, the St. Petersburg Camerata, the Baltic Chamber Orchestra and numerous French orchestras. His solo and chamber music recordings with Vincent Peirani, Paul Meyer, Emmanuel Pahud, Eric Le Sage and Alexandre Tharaud have been widely acclaimed by the press (Diapasons d'Or de l'année, Chocs du Monde de la Musique, 10 de Répertoire, Citizen jazz, Prix de l'Académie Charles Cros, Chocs de Classica, Victoires de la Musique, Palme d'Or de la BBC...). François Salque has also made seven acclaimed recordings with the Ysaye Quartet, of which he was cellist for five years. His commitment to the music of our time has earned him numerous dedications, notably from Thierry Escaich, Bruno Mantovani, Karol Beffa, Krystof Maratka, Jean-François Zygel and Nicolas Bacri. He is also the creator of several works combining contemporary inspiration and traditional music.
Manon Galy
Named "Instrumental Soloist Revelation" at the 2022 Victoires de la Musique awards, Manon Galy was born in Toulouse and began playing the violin at the age of 7.
Her studies took her from the Toulouse CRR to the Paris CRR, then to the CNSMDP in the classes of Roland Daugareil, Suzanne Gessner and Christophe Poiget, the Munich Hochschule with Julia Fischer and the Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth in Waterloo with the Zeliha trio. Manon was also a member of the Vivaldi class at the Académie Musicale Philippe Jaroussky.
Manon is a prizewinner in numerous international competitions, including the Lyon International Chamber Music Competition in 2021, where she won 1st prize and all the special prizes in sonata with Jorge G-Buajasan, the Jascha Heifetz International Competition in Vilnius (3rd prize and audience prize), the Marie Cantagrill, Ginette Neveu, Musicales du Centre and UFAM competitions.For the year 22-23, Manon is part of the "Euroradio Top Young Performers Series" alongside artists such as Maria Dueñas, Jonathan Fournel, Maria Ioudenitch, Zlatomir Fung... She is also a prizewinner of the Banque Populaire and Safran foundations, as well as the AMOPA and Charles Oulmont foundations.
As a soloist, Manon performs regularly with various international orchestras: the Vienna and Salzburg chamber orchestras, the Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse, the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, the ONPL, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice...
She has collaborated with such great conductors as Renaud Capuçon, Aziz Shokhakimov, Victorien Vanoosten, Gabor Tackaks-Nagy, Patrick Davin and Simone Menezes.
In France and around the world, Manon is a regular guest at major festivals such as the Festival International de Piano de la Roque d'Anthéron, the Easter Festivals of Aix-en-Provence, Deauville and Colmar, the Rencontres Musicales d'Evian, the Festival de la Chaise-Dieu, the Al-Bustan Festival (Lebanon), the Folle Journée de Nantes and Tokyo (Japan).... He also performs in such legendary venues as the Philharmonie de Paris, the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Seine Musicale, the Vilnius Philharmonic, the RHOM Theatre Kyoto, the Grand Théâtre de Provence, the Grange au Lac and the Reinier III auditorium in Monte-Carlo, among others.
In the course of these concerts, Manon is lucky enough to share the stage with many artists, including Renaud Capuçon, Corina Belcea, the Modigliani and Zaïde quartets, Marie Chilemme, Marie-Joseph Judde, Marc Coppey, Aurélien Pascal, Yan Levionnois, Yann Dubost, Paul Zientara, Violaine Despeyroux and the Ouranos ensemble...
A chamber musician at heart, Manon Galy founded the Trio Zeliha in 2018 with Jorge Gonzalez-Buajasan and Maxime Quennesson. Their debut disc was released in 2020 on the Mirare label to critical acclaim (5 diapason, 5 stars from Classica, Editor's choice at Gramophone magazine...) Menahem Pressler speaks of an "exceptional recording".
"Nuits Parisiennes", a new duo album with pianist Jorge Gonzalez-Buajasan, will be released on February 24, 2023 by the Aparte label.
Photo credit: ©Caroline Doutre
Lise Berthaud
" 1660 ! Older than J.S Bach! I open my box and still can't believe that such a viola has survived the passage of time. It's a wonderful adventure to change instruments; I'm beginning to tame it, to explore all its rich timbres; I have to adapt to its strong personality and I can feel it reacting to my playing. He has this naturally rich and deep sound that inspires me incredibly. Mr. Magrez is offering me an incredible opportunity by lending me this Antonio Casini, that of being on stage with an ideal companion."