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Chateau Grand-Puy Ducasse

France - Bordeaux

Château Grand-Puy Ducasse’s story began when Arnaud Ducasse bought a “modest“ house on the banks of the river in Pauillac in 1675. Little did he know that it would become a large estate that would remain in his family for almost three centuries. Pierre Ducasse, a lawyer with a passion for wine, considerably extended the land over three parishes - Pauillac, Saint-Lambert and Saint-Sauveur - and three seigneuries: Lafite, Latour and Beychevelle. In 1820, his son built the Château’s winery facing the Gironde estuary. At the time, this was a daring decision: Grand-Puy Ducasse would be the only Château in the area to vinify its
grapes for 200 years. In 1855, the property was included in the prestigious classification of great growths; with 40 hectares of vines spread over 11 different types of soil, its vineyard can be considered as the most representative of the diversity of Pauillac’s terroirs. Since the 1990s, major investments have been made in restructuring the vineyard. In 2004, CA Grands Crus, a subsidiary of the Crédit Agricole Group, has embarked on an ambitious optimization plan. The subsequent construction of a new vat room and barrel storage facilities completed the “Renaissance” plan. The guiding principle of Château Grand-Puy Ducasse and its teams lead by Anne Le Naour and Benjamin Cassoulet is to push rigorous standards even further.

North of the appellation, the plots are planted on a beautiful hillside of gravel resting on a marl-limestone base. These poor, perfectly draining soils are favorable to the development of the great Cabernet Sauvignons of the Médoc.
In the center, the historic plots in a lieu-dit called Grand-Puy, on gravelly-sandy soils on a clay base, are ideally exposed. The pebbles store heat during the day and release it at night. Great Cabernet terroirs.
South east, a plateau of young Cabernets planted on sandy-gravelly soil on a clay base are the future of the property.
To the west, the area called “Artigues” (which echoes the name of the property during the 1855 classification) is made up of sandy soils on a clayey-gravelly subsoil. It is perfectly suited to the estate's Merlots.
To the South-West, podzolized soils on a clayey subsoil bring a touch of freshness and fruitiness to the Merlots and Petit Verdots.

A detailed knowledge of the terroirs made it possible to enhance the adequacy of the plant material to the terroirs. The varietal breakdown of the vineyard consists of Cabernet Sauvignon (59%), Merlot (36%) and Petit Verdot (5%). Pruned in double guyot, the vines have an average age of 25 years.

At Château Grand-Puy Ducasse, they strongly believe that it is necessary to combine quality and sustainable development. In 1996, they decided to stop weeding the vineyards and returned to tillage on 100% of the surfaces. In 2012 an Environmental Management System was implemented. 2014 marked the first experiments in organic farming and 2016 was the first Iso 14001 & HVE3 normed certified vintage. Since then, the agroecological infrastructures have been traced every year and the action plan updated to keep up with their preservation and development.