LVMH promotes Pierre Lurton to chairman of board at Cheval Blanc

LVMH has announced Pierre Lurton will become the new chairman of the board at Château Cheval Blanc, with Pierre-Olivier Clouet becoming managing director.

In a statement this morning, the company said the appointment was “in perfect continuity with the governance of the estate since 1998”, when the LVMH group and the Frère family bought Château Cheval Blanc for a reported €155 million.

Pierre Lurton has led the legendary Bordeaux château for more than 30 years, having arrived at the estate in 1990 as director. Upon the arrival of the Frère and Arnault families in 1998, he was appointed manager,  and later added Château Yquem to his responsibilities in 2004. As the press release notes, Lurton has handed over the general management of the estate to Pierre-Olivier Clouet, whom he himself recruited more than fifteen years ago, who becomes a managing director.

Pierre-Olivier Clouet arrived as an intern at Cheval Blanc in 2004 and has served as technical director at the iconic estate since 2008. In recent years, he has led the property’s key technical projects, such as the construction of the new wine-making facility and cellar designed by Christian de Portzamparc, the birth of Petit Cheval blanc and the transition of the vineyard to agroecology (the philosophy of which is fantastically described in Cheval
Blanc’s manifesto for a more sustainable agroecology).