The Château’s history goes back to 1610, when Domaine de Moussas-Bages belonged to the Jehan family, who were wine merchants and owners of several estates. In 1728, Domaine de Moussas-Bages was purchased by the Drouillard family.
In 1748, Thomas Lynch inherited the Domaine through his wife, Elisabeth Drouillard, and renamed it Château Lynch. In 1779, Jean-Baptiste Lynch, who was the mayor of Bordeaux in 1808, a Count of the Empire in 1811, and then Peer of France in 1815, inherited the Château and entrusted its management to his brother, Michel Lynch, a knight and the mayor of Pauillac. When Jean-Baptiste Lynch died in 1835, Château Lynch was split into two estates. Château Lynch-Moussas (located at the place named Moussas) and Lynch-Bages (located at the place named Bages) thus came into existence. Château Lynch-Moussas kept the château building.
In 1847, Château Lynch-Moussas was purchased by the Vasquez, a Spanish wine merchant family. Subsequently, in 1855, Château Lynch-Moussas was classified as a 5th Grand Cru Classé du Médoc. The official 1855 classification of the wines of Bordeaux, organised by the Bordeaux Chamber of Commerce, was set up on the occasion of the Paris Universal Exhibition at the request of Napoléon III. This classification only comprised the wines of the left bank of the river and included a “Vin Supérieur de Sauternes”, Château d’Yquem, and a Pessac-Léognan, Château Haut Brion. This classification continues to prove a guarantee of high quality to this day.
In 1919, Jean Castéja, the owner of Château Duhart-Milon (a 4th Grand Cru Classé in Pauillac), Château Pichon-Longueville Baron (a 2nd Grand Cru Classé in Pauillac), and Château Doisy-Védrines (a 2nd Grand Cru Classé in Sauternes and Barsac), added Château Lynch-Moussas to the family estates. At that time, the property covered over 250 hectares, 120 of which were made up of vines, woodland and pastureland. At the end of the 1960s, Jean Castéja’s sons (Pierre, Émile, Jean, and Édouard Castéja) decided to divide up the family’s assets.
In 1970, Émile Castéja (the husband of Denise Borie and father of Chantal Preben Hansen and Philippe Castéja) took over the reins of the Château, undertaking numerous works to overhaul the property. From a surface area that had fallen to less than ten hectares, Émile Castéja replanted the entirety of the vineyard and increased its size to 60 hectares. He modernised the Château, restoring this magnificent manor house to its former glory, and renovated the cellars to equip them with better winemaking facilities. The Château now gained renown for the high quality of its wines.
In the 2000s, Philippe Castéja took over the management of the estate, adding impetus to the estate’s development and modernisation, and brought in Denis Dubourdieu and his team as wine consultants. For the 2001 vintage, Émile and Philippe Castéja launched the estate’s Second Wine, “Les Hauts de Lynch-Moussas”, produced from the estate’s youngest plots. On 21st June 2019, the Castéja Heirs celebrated 100 years of having owned and run Château Lynch-Moussas. To mark the occasion, they organised the 2019 Fête de la Fleur at Château Lynch-Moussas.
