Château Soutard is a Saint-Émilion Grand Cru Classé estate on the limestone plateau of Bordeaux's Right Bank, with origins tracing to 1513 when the Bourdieu de Mayne de Soutard was established on the site. Jean Couture, a Jurat of Saint-Émilion, acquired the property in 1699, and construction of the château itself began in 1741. Soutard was among the first estates in the region to plant its vines in rows, and it expanded significantly in the 19th century under Jean Lavau. The Michel des Ligneris family stewarded the estate from 1919 for nearly a century before AG2R La Mondiale acquired it in 2006. The 30-hectare vineyard sits on clay-limestone soils and is planted to roughly 63% Merlot, 28% Cabernet Franc, 7% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 2% Malbec, with vines averaging 35 years and aged eighteen months in French oak. Set at the end of an avenue of linden trees within a UNESCO World Heritage vineyard landscape, the estate won the Gold Best of Wine Tourism Award for Architecture and Landscapes in 2012.