Gate at the premises of Barton & Guestier French wine distributors
It wasn’t an easy time to be a négociant, in eighteenth-century France. Years of overproduction had brought the wine market to its knees – it’s said the French Government ordered producers to rip up their vines, in a desperate effort to protect plummeting prices. Yet Irish-born Barton saw the crisis as an opportunity – and how right he was.
Before long, Barton was exporting wine from the region’s top estates – Margaux, Lafite, Haut-Brion and Léoville – and sending it across the ocean in oak barrels. A grand legacy had begun: and in 1785, the story took a great leap forward.
By now, Barton’s grandson Hugh was at the helm. He joined forces with the daring sea captain Daniel Guestier – who’d made his name sailing wine past the English blockade during the American Revolution – and together they accelerated the business.
Now, the best Bordeaux were sailing under the flag of Barton & Guestier – to Holland, to Britain, to newly-formed America. And under the supervision of Germain Rambaud, Barton & Guestier’s first cellar master, they arrived in reliably good quality. You can imagine the feeling of seeing those ships on the horizon, knowing they proudly carried the finest examples of French winemaking.
Thomas Barton (left) founded Barton & Guestier in 1725, and captain Daniel Guestier (right) joined the family business
