Chateau Beausejour Duffau Lagarrosse History, Overview

 

Chateau Beausejour Duffau Lagarrosse started out life as a part of what we know of today as the Chateau Beau-Sejour Becot estate all the way back in 1847. In 1869, the 14 hectare Beau-Sejour vineyards became the property of Pierre-Paulin Ducarpe. Pierre-Paulin Ducarpe divided the estate between his two children. The chateau, plus other structures along with 50% of the vineyards went to his daughter. After she married, she assumed her husband’s name, Duffau-Lagarosse and Chateau Beausejour Duffau-Lagarosse came into being. The other half of the property eventually became what we know of as Chateau Beau-Sejour Becot today. The current owner and director of the estate is Jean Duffau Lagarrosse.

 

Prior to 2009, Beausejour Duffau Lagarrosse was considered a one hit wonder. Their stunning, 1990 Bordeaux wine is sought after by collectors all over the world. In fact 1990 Beausejour Duffau-Lagarrosse has earned legendary status among wine collectors due to its 100 Pt score from Robert Parker, who also wrote that it was one of his desert island wines. But it took almost twenty years before Beausejour Duffau-Lagarrosse produced another wine that might one day be considered close to the same level, or even better in my opinion as the 1990.

 

The 1990 Beausejour Duffau Lagarrosse was the product of an unintentional late harvest. The chateau either forget, or was just not ready to pick as early as they usually did. The results speak for themselves, which is why the chateau today makes it a point to harvest when they feel the fruit is ripe.

 

Much of the current success of Beausejour Duffau Lagarrosse is due to the efforts of Nicolas Thienpont and Stephane Derenoncourt who were hired in time for the 2009 harvest. Interestingly, Michel Rolland also continued in his role as a consultant. Some of the first changes that took place at Beausejour Duffau, under the direction of Nicolas Thienpont and Stephane Derenoncourt included vast improvements to the drainage and trellising, the addition of new tools to aid in pigeage, or punching down of the caps. The fruit is now whole berry fermented in open top, fermentation vats. Yields were reduced and the grapes are being picked with a higher degree of ripeness. Selection is much more stringent.

 

Positive results were evident from the start of the harvest of the 2009 vintage. The mineral driven, 2009 from Beausejour Duffau is one of the top Bordeaux wines from St. Emilion that year and it’s quite possible the 2010 Beausejour Duffau-Lagarrosse is even better!

 

 

Chateau Beausejour Duffau Lagarrosse Vineyards, Terroir, Grapes, Winemaking

 

The small, 6.5 hectare Right Bank vineyard of Beausejour Duffau-Lagarrosse was further reduced down to 5.7 hectares after 0.8 hectares needed to be torn up and replanted. The rest of the St. Emilion vineyard of Beausejour Duffau-Lagarrosse is planted at a vine density of 7,200 vines per hectare. The average age of the vines is close to 35 years of age, with some vines being much older. The vineyard is planted to 81% Merlot , 16% Cabernet Franc and 3% Cabernet Sauvignon . This shows a slight increase in the amount of Merlot planted in the vineyards. The vineyard is managed using sustainable farming techniques with the goal of natural, low yields. In many years, might be as low as 20 hectoliters per hectare or even less.

 

The vineyard of Beausejour Duffau-Lagarrosse can be divided into two different terroirs. A portion of the vines are planted are on the St. Emilion plateau and the remaining vines are planted on the slopes. The terroir is a mix of clay with serious limestone deposits. The chateau is located just west of the beautiful St. Emilion village, it’s closest neighbors are Beau-Sejour Becot, Canon , Clos St. Martin , Angelus and Clos Fourtet . It’s a nice neighborhood to be in.

 

For the harvest at Chateau Beausejour Duffau-Lagarrosse, all the grapes are always harvested by hand. The fruit is first sorted in the vineyards and again at the reception area using optical sorting technology.

 

To produce the wine of Chateau Beausejour Duffau, the fruit is 100% destemmed before the whole, not crushed berries are moved by gravity where the grapes undergo a cold, pre fermentation prior to whole berry fermentation. The vinification takes place in small, temperature controlled vats that range in size from 49 hectoliters up to 83 hectoliters.

 

Today, one of the big improvements at the property is that they are able to to see that the vinification is being one on a block by block basis, which allows for much more precision in the winemaking. Cuvaison with regular pigeages lasts for between 25 to 28 days. Malolactic fermentation at Beausejour Duffau-Lagarrosse takes place in barrel, with the first six months spent on its lees, which are not stirred. The wine of Beausejour Duffau-Lagarrosse is aged in 75% new French, oak barrels for about 18 months. The barrels come from a myriad of different coopers.

 

The style of wine at Chteau Beausejour Duffau-Lagarrosse in the best vintages is unique. It’s thick, rich, vibrant and intense with an exotic quality, minerality, silky tannins and opulent, if not decadent textures.

 

On average, the production of Chateau Beausejour Duffau-Lagarrosse is close to 1,200 cases per vintage. However, there was less wine made in both 2009 and 2010. In those years, perhaps the production was closer to 800 cases, making the wine difficult to find. There is a second wine , Croix de Beausejour. However, Croix de Beausejour is not produced in every vintage