Margaux Has Two “Marquis” Châteaux. How Do Château Marquis de Terme and Château Marquis d’Alesme Differ?

The Margaux AOC has two classified châteaux with “Marquis” in their names. Château Marquis de Terme is a Fourth Growth (Quatrième Cru). Château Marquis d’Alesme, covered earlier in this series, is a Third Growth (Troisième Cru). Their names resemble each other, but the Classification records them as separate estates.

The difference lies in how the names were formed. Marquis de Terme derives from a marriage in 1762 and land that formed the wife's dowry. The core of the name Marquis d’Alesme, by contrast, comes from the d’Alesme family; Jean Bekker-Teerlink acquired that estate in 1810 and added “Becker.” The specified sources do not confirm an ownership or family connection between the two.

“Marquis” is the French word for a rank of nobility. The presence of the same title in two names is not evidence that the estates or families are the same. This page reads each name through the event from which it arose.

The Marriage of 1762 Produced the Name “Marquis de Terme”

The starting point of the name is 16 December 1762. On that date, François de Péguilhan, Marquis de Terme, married. According to the official history, the wine from the land that formed his wife's dowry took the name “Marquis de Terme.” The present château name derives from this marriage and dowry.

The part added to the name was not the wife's surname, but “Marquis de Terme,” the title held by her husband. “Marquis” can therefore be read here not as an abstract ornament but as the title of the Marquis de Terme who appears in the marriage of 1762. The marriage itself does not, however, justify filling in later ownership relationships by inference.

The Feuillerat family managed the estate from 1809, and Château Marquis de Terme was recorded as a Fourth Growth (Quatrième Cru) in 1855. Pierre Sénéclauze acquired it in 1935. The formation of the name, management, classification, and acquisition are events from different years and are not treated as one event.

The current owner is also the Sénéclauze family. The acquisition of 1935 is the confirmed beginning of the family ownership that continues today. The formation of the name in 1762, by contrast, belongs to an earlier history of marriage. The specified sources do not establish that the present owning family and the marquis who gave rise to the name belong to the same family line.

Château Marquis d’Alesme Has a Different Naming History

The comparison, Château Marquis d’Alesme, is a separate estate whose name comes from the d’Alesme family. The previously published page 33 explains that the Dutch merchant Jean Bekker-Teerlink acquired it in 1810 and added the spelling “Becker” to the name. Its current short brand form is Château Marquis d’Alesme, and it is a Third Growth (Troisième Cru) in the 1855 Classification.

For Château Marquis de Terme, the event explaining the name is the marriage of 1762, and its place in the 1855 Classification is Fourth Growth (Quatrième Cru). The two names share “Marquis,” but their components preserve different histories: the d’Alesme family and the later addition of Becker in one case, the Marquis de Terme and a marriage and dowry in the other.

A similar name alone therefore cannot establish that they were once a single estate, had the same owners, or share a family connection. The specified materials go only as far as showing that no ownership or family link between them is confirmed. This page does not determine whether such a link exists; it sets the two confirmed naming histories side by side.

From 1935 to 2024: Following the Transfer of Operations

After Pierre Sénéclauze acquired the estate in 1935, the official timeline records the appointment of Ludovic David in 2009. Paloma Sénéclauze joined the operation in 2021 and completed the full transfer of operations in 2024. She is now the owner and general manager.

This chronology establishes the appointment, participation, succession, and current role. The account remains within that scope. From 1935 to the present, the owner is identified as the Sénéclauze family.

The wine name also requires a distinction. The Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux (UGCB) lists Marquis de Terme Cuvée 1762 in its second-wine field. The château's official site, however, expressly states that the same wine is “not a second wine in the traditional sense.”

The table and text therefore retain both the UGCB field and the producer's own description. Rather than simplifying the wine as a second wine, the confirmed position is that it appears in that UGCB field while the official château description says it is not a second wine in the traditional sense. The name of a listing field does not override the château's stated positioning.

Three Facts Worth Knowing

• The name Château Marquis de Terme derives from the marriage of 16 December 1762 and land that formed the wife's dowry. The wine from that land took the name of the Marquis de Terme.
• Château Marquis d’Alesme is a separate Third Growth whose name comes from the d’Alesme family and to which Jean Bekker-Teerlink added “Becker” in 1810. Marquis de Terme is a Fourth Growth whose name derives from the marriage of 1762; the specified sources do not confirm an ownership or family connection between them.
• The current owner is the Sénéclauze family, and Paloma Sénéclauze is owner and general manager. The UGCB places Marquis de Terme Cuvée 1762 in its second-wine field, but the château states that it is not a second wine in the traditional sense.