Château Ducru-Beaucaillou: The Ducru Era
Bertrand Ducru set about developing the estate and improving the residence. He renovated the vineyards, and was also responsible for the construction of the central part of the château as it stands today; this was essentially an upgrade and extension of the house that stood before, refashioned by the architect Paul Abadie (1783 – 1868) and completed in 1820. Note that Bertrand was not responsible for the distinctive towers which flank this central portion; as mentioned on page one of this history, these were added by a subsequent proprietor.
Bertrand married, and he and his wife Marie had two offspring. The first was a son, Jean-Baptiste Gustave Ducru (died 1879); he married Rita Bouquier (died 1871), a wealthy widow, whose first husband had been Jean Baptiste Duluc. Then came a daughter, Marie-Louise Amélie Ducru, who went by the name of Zélie. She was wedded to Baron Antoine-Auguste Ravez (1797 – 1857), a magistrat and premier avocat général of the royal court of Bordeaux; he was the son of Auguste Ravez (1770 – 1849), an avocat, député de la Gironde, noble Pair de France, and clearly an accomplished politician and statesman. It is said that Auguste would furnish orators in the Bordeaux parliament not with a glass of water, but with a glass of his daughter-in-law’s wine, which no doubt did its reputation and sales no harm at all.
Upon the death of Bertrand Ducru in 1829, the two children Jean-Baptiste and Zélie inherited the estate, and they ran it jointly for just over thirty years. The siblings did an excellent job in improving and promoting their wine, although it has to be said having such influential in-laws was perhaps also a significant factor in their success.
The estate was still in their possession when it appeared in the 1850 Cocks et Féret, by which time the production had climbed to an impressive 100 tonneaux per annum, placing it among the eight largest estates of the commune. Shortly afterwards the 1855 classification was drawn up, and almost certainly as a result of the efforts of Jean-Baptiste and Zélie (and perhaps the Ravez family) the estate was highly ranked, ending up alongside the three Léoville properties, which we know today as Château Léoville-Barton, Château Léoville-Las-Cases and Château Léoville-Poyferré, and Château Gruaud-Larose, as one of the five deuxièmes crus of St Julien.
