Five Vintages of Château Giscours, 2018
During a trip around Bordeaux earlier this year, in May, I called in on Château Giscours. In the company of technical director Didier Forêt, I spent an hour or two checking out the château, cellars and of course the vineyard, before taking a look at a few recent vintages.
I will start here with a quick potted summary of this estate’s long history. Viticulture here dates back to at least the 16th century, although the estate itself – which at the time went by the name of Guyscoutz – is at least two centuries older than that. It was not really until the 19th century that the modern-day Château Giscours began to take shape though, spurred on by the efforts of the Promis, Pescatore and Cruse families. The château was transformed, taking on the palatial facade it displays today, and both agricultural and winemaking facilities were added. The property was acquired by Nicolas Tari after World War II, before coming into the hands of the late Eric Albada Jelgersma in 1995. Today this expansive estate remains in the hands of the Jelgersma family, although running the show on a day-to-day basis is Alexander van Beek, with the help of a large team, including the aforementioned Didier Forêt (pictured).
If this all sounds a little brief, I should point out that I will be updating my profile of Château Giscours some time during the coming months.
The Estate Today
It is difficult to comprehend the size of this estate today unless you set out to explore it, as I did with Didier. Some of the best parcels of vines sit in front of the château, to the east, running across to the D2, so having hopped into the passenger seat of his car I was surprised when Didier headed west, into the forest behind the château. He chauffeured me along woodland tracks with sandy and gravelly soils, a perfect route for a morning run (I hadn’t packed my running shoes though – I was half-disappointed, and half-relieved). The tree-lined avenue seemed to go on forever, but eventually we came out into sunlight again; here I was greeted by the sight of not just vineyards, but also an ornamental lake. We continued past it, and we had travelled some distance when, as we sat surrounded by a sea of vines, Didier announced we had reached the periphery of the vineyard. There are 300 hectares of land here, 90 of which are planted to the vine, which makes Château Giscours one of the largest (if not the largest?) of all the Médoc cru classé estates, in terms of its vineyard at least.
