Nestled next to the renowned Second Empire château, the Palmer village is a hamlet of buildings built with pale stone and verdigris shutters, bordered by gardens and herbaceous beds. This site with its traditional Médoc architecture was established in the 18th century to provide an autonomous living area for the small rural community who ensured the smooth-running of the estate.

There were cows and horses, vegetable crops and orchards. True to its origins, the village has remained a lively, living place. Today it is home to winegrowers and their families, caretakers of the estate, cellar workers and teams of trainees who have come from the four corners of the wine world to learn about Médoc viticulture. During the day, the village brings together the professions of knowledge and transmission. In the evening, it sheds its hive-like function to adopt a different role, and it is not uncommon to hear children playing in the gardens.

Thanks to an architectural project launched in 2020, the functions of the Palmer village have been reconsidered. The site now offers a more direct connection to the vineyard, inviting tenants and guests to stroll among the technical installations and redesigned buildings. The boot room serves as a reception area, the historic stable has become a herbarium, offices are hosted in a former wine storehouse and, at the very centre, a winegrowers’ canteen welcomes the teams every lunchtime.

An authentic workers’ eatery at the heart of the Palmer Village, in all its beauty and nobility, initially for internal use, before opening up to neighbours, locals and tourists eager to experience an immersive lunch in the tradition of harvest meals, a joyful highlight of September. “Our ambition is to reach out to the locals, to make them realise that the Palmer canteen is a place that brings people together and nurtures them,” says Thomas Duroux, the director of the property. “We are also doing this to reinforce the bonds within the estate, and to forge ties with the nearby town of Margaux.”

“Meals made with our own products is a return to rural common sense”
Thomas Duroux — director of Château Palmer

With its winegrower’s canteen, Château Palmer is shaking up the world of gastronomy. In the heart of the village, this humble, accessible bistro offers everyone who makes Palmer part of their daily life, as well as tourists and people from the region, the chance to enjoy delicious, local food together. The menu features a weekly selection of seasonal dishes that showcase the estate’s farm produce.

This is a Monday like any other. The start of a busy spring week with the presentation of the primeurs, the first wines of the season. A few journalists, accompanied by Thomas Duroux, emerge from the cellars after a tasting and bump into two couples of tourists who are finishing their tour of the grounds. In an adjacent plot, winegrowers stand around Teddy Natal, one of the estate farmers, who is guiding Junon, a Percheron mare, as she walks between the vines to break up the clods.

Between two houses in the village, technical director Sabrina Pernet chats with Viviane Vincent-Tejero, the market gardener, who is putting away her empty baskets after delivering the day’s harvest to the kitchen. In a few minutes, everyone will sit down at the winegrowers’ canteen to enjoy the weekly menu prepared by executive chef Jean-Denis Le Bras’ team.

“I want people to rediscover the pleasure of home cooking and the joy of making things”
Jean-Denis Le Bras — executive chef at Château Palmer

Some regulars have their own napkin rings, while others are discovering the place for the first time, surprised by its warm atmosphere (complete with bistro tables and chairs, wine-coloured walls, and small tiles on the floor). It is the ideal setting for the domestic whims and ingenuity of a chef who is no stranger to Michelin stars, but who also loves the simple pleasures of a meal shared with friends: “We offer a set-menu with a starter, a main and a dessert. We aim to serve generous portions because we cater to people who work, but we also encourage sharing. The dishes are placed on the table and everyone can help themselves to as much as they want. I want people to rediscover the pleasure of home cooking and the joy of making things.”

Depending on the season, he serves up his own informal, excellent fare, including country terrines and pickled vegetables from the kitchen garden, grated carrots with a few freshly picked herbs, well-seasoned celery remoulade, pears poached in red wine, and large casseroles to share. Case in point, this particular lunchtime saw a parade of enticing dishes including pea soup with fresh mint and fresh goat’s cheese with pistachios; fillets of estuary sturgeon in a white butter sauce with crisp garden vegetables; and a divine panna cotta trembling under a strawberry coulis.

A daily succession of simple, moreish dishes that everyone can agree on and that reveal a new side to Palmer – one of a château in tune with the times and open to the town of Margaux and the Médoc region.