Chateau Gruaud-Larose

Exact origin of Chateau Gruaud-Larose is unknown, but the knight Joseph Stanislas Gruaud is often credited with taking the first step to create the estate known today in 1725. Two descendants of Joseph, one a magistrate and the other a priest, owned a number of vineyards, which they combined into a single estate named Fond-Bedeau, but still producing wines under two separate cuvees.

The part owned by the magistrate, Chevalier de Gruaud, was later passed to his son-in-law Joseph-Sebastian de La Rose, who bought the other parts inherited by others, adding his name to create Gruaud-Larose. He died in 1795, leaving the estate to his heirs, until 1812 when the property had to be auctioned to pay for the family’s legal bills.

The consortium of Pierre Balguerie, Baron Jean Auguste Sarget and David Verdonnet purchased the estate, and upon David’s death his portion was sold to the other two families. Pierre passed the estate to his two daughters, Marie Henriette and Marie Clemence, with the former marrying to Charles Alexandre de Bethmann. Thus by the 1855 classification, in which the estate was ranked second growth, it was divided between three owners.

The property was split into two in 1867, one half remaining with Baron Sarget, the other under the Bethmann descendants, as Marie Clemence died without an heir, with the estate later renaming to Gruaud-Larose-Faure because of marriage to Adrien Faure. Baron Sarget had more success and had built the chateau still gracing the property today. Then the Sarget portion was sold in 1917 to the Cordier group, with the Faure portion sold also in 1935, effectively reuniting the property.

It was sold again in 1983 to a French bank Compagnie de Suez, then to Alcatel a decade later. In 1997 the property was sold to another Bordeaux family headed by Jacques Merlaut, also owning some other properties in Bordeaux.

Chateau Gruaud-Larose has 150 ha in total, of which 82 ha are planted. The vineyards are around the chateau, separated from the Gironde by the small village of Beychevelle. There is deep gravel in the vineyard, planted with 57% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc, 3% Petit Verdot and 2% Malbec, with vine averaging 45 years of age, at a density of 10000 vines per ha.

An interesting sonic anti-hail system is available, essentially a sonic cannon. The grapes are harvested by hand, with the winemaking overseen by Jacques’ son, Jean Merlaut. There are two new cellars with wooden fermentation vats and new grape reception rooms to improve quality, an investment from Alcatel. The berries are sorted and undergo cold soaking in temperature controlled fermentation vessels, a mixture of wooden and concrete vats, with pumping over twice a day.

The concrete vats help to mix the wine as it ferments by creating currents, also chemically inert and maintaining a stable temperature. A third of the vintage undergoes malolactic fermentation in oak barrels, before ageing the entire wine in 50% new oak for eighteen months. There is light fining and filtration before bottling, with the grand vin Chateau Gruaud-Larose producing about 25000 cases per year. A second wine was introduced in 1979, called Sarget de Gruaud-Larose, of about 16000 cases.

On the label there is the wordings ‘the wine of kings, the king of wines’, with the wines originally destined as a gift for the Emperor of Vietnam in 1872 but unfortunately the vessel sank.

I have recently tasted the 2004 vintage and below is my tasting note:

Good quality St-Julien GCC with medium ruby color, a reasonable concentrated nose showing developing and fairly complex aromas of blackcurrant, blackberry and black cherries, cedar, savory and tobacco, liquorice, meaty and leather. Medium in acidity, the tannin is quite high with ripe and talc-like texture. Fairly full-bodied, the reasonably intense palate has blackcurrant, blackberry and black cherries, liquorice, vanilla and cedar. With a reasonable finish, the wine is a bit too mediocre for a second growth. Ready to drink now though can benefit from further ageing of another 3-5 years.