Château Ducru-Beaucaillou: The Ducru Era
Bertrand Ducru set about developing the estate and improving his apparently unworthy château. During his tenure the quality continued to improve and prices gradually climbed. He 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 Antoine Ravez, a magistrat and premier avocat général of the royal court of Bordeaux, and the son of Auguste Ravez (1770 – 1849), an avocat and député de la Gironde, clearly an accomplished politician and statesman.
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. During this time Jean-Baptiste renovated the vineyards, and was responsible for the construction of the central part of the château as it stands today. He was not responsibly for the distinctive wings and towers, however, as these were added by a subsequent proprietor. 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 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.
