The Vineyard Left Its Name on the Hill, and Only the Wine Remained by the River — Why Does Grand-Puy Ducasse Still Vinify in the Heart of Town?

Many of the chateaux we have visited so far in Bordeaux Chateau Stories keep their vineyards and their winery on the same grounds. Château Grand-Puy Ducasse, the chateau we visit this time, is different. Its vineyards lie on the outskirts of Pauillac, scattered in every direction around the hill of Grand-Puy. Yet the place where the wine is made has remained, for more than two hundred years, a single unchanging spot — on the banks of the Gironde, in the heart of town.

Why are the vineyard and the winery set so far apart? The answer goes back to a single decision made by an owner in 1820. That decision, said to have been a bold one for its time, made Grand-Puy Ducasse the only chateau in Pauillac to have its winemaking facilities in the middle of town.

It Began with a “Modest House” by the River

In 1675, a man named Arnaud Ducasse purchased a house on the riverbank at Pauillac. The official record describes it as a “modest house” — not yet a chateau, not yet a winery, simply a house. Yet this acquisition was the very starting point of the name Grand-Puy Ducasse.

It was the next generation, Pierre Ducasse, who greatly expanded the estate. He extended the holdings across three parishes — Pauillac, Saint-Lambert, and Saint-Sauveur — and reached as far as the edges of land bearing the names of three seigneuries: Lafite, Latour, and Beychevelle.

1820: The “Bold Decision” to Vinify in the Heart of Town

Just after the First Empire, the Ducasse family already held forty hectares of vineyard. The turning point came from there. Arnaud’s son decided to build a facility for winemaking and aging on a quay overlooking the mouth of the Gironde — a site set apart from the vineyards. It is said to have been a bold decision for its time.

The facility was completed in 1820, and the first harvest was brought in that same year. For more than two hundred years since, Grand-Puy Ducasse has remained the only chateau to go on making its own wine in the heart of Pauillac. The vineyards, still carrying the hill’s name, remained scattered in every direction, while only the place where the wine was made stayed fixed in this one corner of town.

In 1822, Pamela Ducasse married Édouard Duroy de Suduiraut, joining the two family lines. Then in 1855, the chateau was classified as a Fifth Growth under the name “Artigues-Arnaud.” Artigues is the name that still remains for the western parcel of the vineyard today. A name belonging to just one of the parcels scattered across the hill was thus carried, unchanged, into history as the name of the Classification.

The Family Motto, and the Scattered Vineyard Today

In 1919, the label bearing the coat of arms of the then-owning Duroy de Suduiraut family is said to have carried the family motto “REGIS SEMPER AMICI” (eternal friends). In 1931, the three children of Pierre-Alfred Duroy de Suduiraut, together with Madame Boutuyer, formally founded the Société Civile Grand-Puy Ducasse.

In 1971, the chateau was sold to the négociant Mestrezat-Preller, who held it until 2004. In 2005, CA Grands Crus, part of the Crédit Agricole group, became the owner and set about reorganizing the vineyard. Today the estate is run by Anne Le Naour and Benjamin Casteja.

This vineyard is said to be unusually fragmented even among the sixty-one chateaux of the 1855 Classification, with parcels said to extend not only around the hill of Grand-Puy but also around the village of Artigues and into the western part of the Saint-Lambert plateau. Today it is officially divided into five parcels. The central parcel, which carries the historic place name Grand-Puy, holds a clay layer beneath gravelly, sandy soil, where the small stones store the heat of the day and release it at night. To the north lies a gravel-rich rise, planted with Cabernet Sauvignon. To the southeast is a parcel of young Cabernet Sauvignon, and in the podzolic parcel to the southwest, Merlot and Petit Verdot are said to be planted. The Artigues parcel to the west — the parcel from which the 1855 Classification name was drawn — is also one of these five parcels. Cabernet Sauvignon 59%, Merlot 36%, Petit Verdot 5%, with an average vine age of 25 years — the vineyard that left its name on the hill is thus brought together into a single wine. The finished blend is said to include 10 to 20% Petit Verdot, depending on the vintage.

The second wine, Prélude à Grand-Puy Ducasse, was born in 1955, the 100th anniversary of the 1855 Classification. The vineyard left its name on the hill even as it grew scattered, while the wine has always been made by the river. Some 350 years on from the “modest house” of 1675, that contrast still holds true today.

Three Facts Worth Knowing

• The only chateau that vinifies in the heart of town. Ever since 1820, when the “bold decision for its time” was made to build a winemaking and aging facility on the banks of the Gironde, apart from the vineyards, Grand-Puy Ducasse has for more than two hundred years remained the only chateau to go on making its wine in the center of Pauillac.
• The Classification name comes from a vineyard parcel name. In 1855, the chateau was classified as a Fifth Growth under the name “Artigues-Arnaud.” Artigues is the name that still remains today for a parcel on the western side of the vineyard.
• The motto engraved on the label is “eternal friends.” In 1919, the label bearing the coat of arms of the then-owning Duroy de Suduiraut family is said to have carried the family motto “REGIS SEMPER AMICI.”