x
  • Time

    00:22 AM
  • Wine average?

    92 Tb
  • Country Ranking?

    540
  • Region Ranking?

    312
  • Popularity ranking?

    96

History

As a young man Joseph Stanislas Gruaud was the owner of the Ténac, Sartaignac and Merle Crus in the 18th century. He united them in 1757 under the name of “Fonbedeau”, also called « Gruaud ». A legend was born…

He died in 1771 and left the property that he had looked so well after to Monsieur de Larose. In 1781, the name of the new owner was added to that of its predecessor. The Cru then became «Gruaud Larose”. On November 28th 1795, Monsieur de Larose died. Messrs Balguerie, Sarget and Verdonnet became the new owners. In 1865, the undivided estate was shared between the heirs Balguerie and Sarget. This generated two crus: Gruaud Larose-Bethmann and Gruaud Larose-Sarget.

 

In 1917, Désiré Cordier bought the Sarget family's share. Then, several years before the start of the Second World War, he also acquired the Bethmann family’s share. On November 8th 1935, Désiré Cordier, owner of Gruaud Larose-Sarget, took the opportunity to unite the estate by buying Gruaud Larose-Faure. Thus reconstituted, the estate covered 137 hectares whereof 68 under vines.

The Suez Company bought the Cordier empire in 1983 and became de facto owner of Gruaud LaroseTen years later, in 1993, Gruaud Larose was sold to the industrial group Alcatel-Alsthom. In 1997, the Merlaut family, already owners of several Medoc cru estates, bought Gruaud Larose.

 

Gruaud Larose has always tried to give value to the role of man in the creation of its elixir; both to his work and to the bond established with the vineyard. The vine stocks and the grapes are nothing without man, without these makers of crus, from the most modest to the most powerful. Since its creation, four families have succeeded one another at the head of Gruaud Larose: the Gruaud and Larose families, the Balguerie and Sarget families, the Cordier family and the Merlaut family. In this way, in modern history, Désiré Cordier, mayor of the Saint-Julien village, passed the torch to his son, Jean, in October 1940. 

 

In the same way, Jacques Merlaut entrusted Gruaud Larose to his son, Jean. This family attachment has been passed on to the employees who often work at the chateau from father to son and from mother to daughter.

Wine is the son of the sun and the earth but was delivered by hard work.” Paul Claudel, French writer (1868-1955)

 

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Vineyards

During the Günzian Quaternary period, the Gironde River reached the heights of Saint-Julien where Gruaud Larose lies. To the native so-called red gravel the Gironde added black or white flints from the Périgord, and white or pink quartz pebbles from the Limousin region plus other stones from the Pyrenees the Tarn department. The dominant orange colouration makes it possible to date the basis of the terroir to more than a million years ago.


The soil consists of humus, clay, sand, and pebbles left behind by the river. The subsoil is made up of red, yellow and blue clay, and of sand and even pebbles worn smooth from the Pyrenean diluvium. 
The gravel keeps the soil from becoming a compacted, asphyxiating, blind mass. It breathes through all its pebbles that have accumulated over thousands of years in the original bed of the Garonne river, a river that all too often tries to regain the path it took in the ice age.  Acid and uncultivated, these gravels only become the terroirs of choice for elite viticulture after years of labour by generations of vine-growers.

 

Each generation has witnessed the blossoming of genuine artist-winemakers. Without the willpower and good work of these men, theterroirs would have become mere fields of vines. They have made and are still making a world-class vineyard. 
From the Middle Ages to the beginning of the 17th century the conquest of new vineyards progressed very slowly. Then, under the reign of Louis 14th, a powerful movement to expand viticulture - the “Planting Fury” - was born and continued to gain in popularity during the 18th century. During this first high point of the great Medoc vineyards, the overwhelming majority of the Gruaud Larose terroirwas already under vines and its name was already famous. 


The work of man in the vine is solitary, hard and comes with responsibilities. The gesture is both simple and complicated, the ambition both simple and spectacular, the work both paced and infinite. The tradition of the gesture reinforces the modernity of the techniques, experience consolidates with new viticultural innovation.

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Winemaking

The vine here requires constant attention and numerous tasks to be carried out during the year. The quality of the grapes remains an obsession, a healthy harvest being a prerequisite for a successful vinification.

The grapes are picked manually and are sent to the cellars so that the person in charge can control the vinification and the maturing of the wine. From then on there is a change of hands, not a change of destiny. The cellar master is there to attend to the year's offering and to master it. Everyone is at their post, the grapes are sorted again, chosen, selected by both man and machine. The destemmer performs its task and the grape bunch finds itself bare. The grapes are free - for a little while. The twisting pipes and the power of the machines are there so that the mixture of pulp, juice and skin find refuge in the large wooden vats to ferment.
Fruit of heaven and the sun, the story of this grape ends in the silence of the vat room. The story of the wine may now begin. 


Helped in his decisions by the owner, the oenologist and the vineyard manager, the cellar master blends and assembles the wines with great balance and harmony. 

From the vines to the cellar, wine is composed much like a symphony where each plays his part with deference to others. The exchange of information, tastings, a little help from computers and analysis all come into play in order to achieve an annual production of some 150 000 bottles of Gruaud Larose and 250 000 bottles of Sarget, the second wine of the property. 
The wines are matured away from the air and the light for 18 months in more than 1 300 French oak barrels.

 
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2 different wines with 85 vintages

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