Cabot Cape Breton, the very first property under the Cabot brand, boasts one golf course designed by architect Rod Whitman and another by Bill Coore.
And now, so does the newest addition in Cabot’s rapidly growing portfolio. Only this one didn’t take 20 years to come about, notes company founder Ben Cowan-Dewar.

In the wine country of Bordeaux, France, Cabot has acquired Golf Du Médoc Resort and its two established courses—the Coore-designed Châteaux and the Whitman-designed Vignes—set across a 500-acre property that’s tucked between rolling vineyards and picturesque French countryside. The resort, which for decades has been a premier getaway for golf and wine enthusiasts, has been rebranded as Cabot Bordeaux and becomes the first continental European location in the Cabot Collection’s expanding lineup of luxury resort and residential golf destinations.
“The chance to buy into Bordeaux is just amazing,” Cowan-Dewar says of a property that also has a 79-room hotel, world-class spa, and restaurant. “It’s just a bucolic settling and you’re in the heart of Bordeaux and near some of the great vineyards, but it has such a beautiful rural setting. It’s probably the most famous wine region in the world and just an amazingly rich cultural destination. To be able to have courses from Ron and Bill is sort of like a dream come true. They’re two of the best at building greens I’ve ever seen.”
Coore’s name has seemingly been intertwined with Ben Crenshaw forever, but he had several solo designs before the duo debuted Kapalua’s Plantation Course on Maui in 1991.

In 1989, Coore unveiled his third solo design in Bordeaux with the Châteaux course, a par-71 layout that stretches to almost 7,000 yards and is inspired by Scottish links courses.
Whitman, who helped Coore build the first course, then designed the 18-hole Vignes course that opened in 1991: a rugged, par-71 heathland-style offering that tips out at 6,820 yards.
The order is the reverse of Cape Breton, the coastal destination in Nova Scotia that first launched the Canadian-based Cabot brand to fame. Whitman built Cabot Links in 2011, while Coore & Crenshaw followed with Cabot Cliffs in 2019.

“For us to be able to be the stewards of their work in France feels pretty amazing,” says Cowan-Dewar.
Unlike World Woods Golf Club in Florida, which was completely overhauled to become Cabot Citrus Farms (Cabot’s first U.S. location), Cabot Bordeaux is generally turnkey.
In that respect, Bordeaux is more like Cabot Highlands in Scotland, where Cowan-Dewar acquired the acclaimed Castle Stuart course designed by Gil Hanse and the late Mark Parsinen and is building a second 18-hole course created by Tom Doak.

“With Castle Stuart, I was a fan of it before I was an owner. And it’s the same with Bordeaux,” Cowan-Dewar adds. “We’ll get Bill and Rod over there and see what, if anything, they would do. But it’s just making sure we’re maintaining the conditions and presenting it in the best way. From an architectural standpoint, we’re such huge fans of Bill and Rod there’s nothing at all dramatic that needs to be done whatsoever.”
As at Cabot Cape Breton, the two courses border one another but the sites and character are very different.
“Rod’s course plays through the edge of one of the largest forests in France that goes down to the sea from Bordeaux. It’s really a beautiful, sandy site that has a real pine forest feel to it,” says Cowan-Dewar. “Bill’s is more out in the open. To me, it’s always the site that gives the character as much as the architecture. They’re reflective of that, but they’re both terrific golf courses.”

Bordeaux becomes Cabot’s sixth property, joining its locations in Cape Breton, Saint Lucia in the Caribbean, the Scottish Highlands, Central Florida, and the in-development Revelstoke destination in British Columbia. While the historic charm of the French resort will be preserved, the property will be updated with the distinctive Cabot touch, including expanded amenities and immersive guest experiences that blend modern and classic elements.
And as at all Cabot properties, golf will be at the forefront, with plans for a potential short course already in the works.

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