Château Ducru-Beaucaillou

Driving up and down the Médoc you cannot fail to be impressed by the many grand châteaux you will pass. From the understated maison and iconic dovecot at Latour, to the exuberant extravagance of Cos d’Estournel, these châteaux in many cases reflect the demeanour of long-deceased proprietors, and I don’t think it unreasonable in some cases to ask whether they also channel the style of the wine? With this in mind, I think it is always worthwhile exploring the history of these estates and their proprietors, in order to put the wine made in modern times into context.

Few properties boast such a majestic outer shell as Château Ducru-Beaucaillou. The first château of some sort seems to have gone up during the 1730s, although the central part of what stands today was erected by the Ducru family during the first half of the 19th century, building on what stood before. The design, an imposing residence in the Directoire style, was situated directly over the barrel cellars, unusual for the Médoc. This arrangement is immediately apparent when visiting the property, which in my case is most commonly during the primeur tastings, or when tasting the livrables (the freshly bottled vintage) later in the year.

When I first visited the property (too many years ago to remember exactly when) the entrance utilised during the primeurs was the grape reception area at one end of the building, and once through the doorway I immediately descended into the cellars (pictured below). Proprietor Bruno Borie has a taste for modern art, and my eye was naturally drawn beyond the vats to the animated basketball-player sculpted from fluorescent light tubes on the far wall, which I suppose makes a change from the photographs of dew-spotted grapes or monochrome photographs of inexplicably jolly minimum-salary vineyard workers you can spot at other classed growth estates. After turning a corner I found myself in a long and narrow tasting room which ran much of the length of the château.

Once the tasting had finished, I left by some hidden patio doors, finding myself in the front gardens.

While my journey through the bowels of Château Ducru-Beaucaillou was a memorable one, the château-over-cellars arrangement is not really the most remarkable feature of the château. This award should perhaps go to what I discovered on being ejected into the garden; turning to view the château I was struck by the grandeur of the great towers which flank the central portion of the building. These were added during the latter half of the 19th century by the famous Bordeaux négociant Nathaniel Johnston, who deemed the makeover necessary in order to impress his new wife, Princesse Marie Caradja de Constantinople, the daughter of Prince Constantin of Turkey.

Following designs drawn up by the famous French architect Louis-Michel Garros, as well as the towers Nathaniel and his betrothed also added two new wings, a conservatory and newly landscaped gardens, completely transforming what was already an imposing property.

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