Château Larcis Ducasse: The Ducasse Era
Various members of the Ducasse family have played important roles in the history of a number of notable Bordeaux châteaux over the years. It was, for example, Jean-Jacques Ducasse (1796 – 1854) who acquired two slices of the vineyards of Château Figeac, in 1832 and 1838, thereby planting the seed that grew into the estate we know today as Château Cheval Blanc. It was a Jean-Louis Ducasse (1839 – 1875) who took on the running of Château L’Évangile when he married into the Chaperon family in 1866. And it was presumably a more distant relative who was responsible for Château Grand-Puy-Ducasse back in the late-18th century.
Sadly, the exact identity of the Ducasse working here on the Côte de Pavie in the latter years of the 19th century seems obscure, nevertheless he seems to have enjoyed moderate success. The estate established a reputation for good wines, and it took a gold medal in the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1867 (as did, admittedly, a good number of other St Emilion estates that year). In the 1868 Cocks et Féret we see that Monsieur Ducasse was working the land at Larcis, producing 15 to 20 tonneaux per annum. As previously noted, however, there was also a second parcel of vines, in the ownership of Monsieur Bergey, who managed a slightly smaller production of 12 to 15 tonneaux.
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