Château Beau-Séjour Bécot

The estate has been devoted to winemaking since the Gallo-Roman period. In 1787, General Jacques de Carles, wishing to commemorate for all time the pleasure that he enjoyed staying there, named the estate “Beau-Séjour” (meaning “lovely stay”).

In 1969, Michel Bécot acquired the château and brought the area under vine up to 18.50 hectares thanks to the purchase of neighbouring vineyard plots with the same terroir. He also turned seven hectares of former underground limestone quarries into a storage cellar where tens of thousands of bottles age under ideal conditions. His work in improving and embellishing the estate went on until his retirement in 1985.

His two sons, Gérard and Dominique, have followed in their father’s footsteps while introducing numerous technical innovations to both the cellars and the vineyard. Only the ripest, healthiest grapes are now harvested, and then sorted one by one. Gérard’s daughter, Juliette, started working at the château in 2001 in order to market wines from the family estate.

The property, on the exceptional terroir of Saint-Emilion, has an area of 18.5 Ha on which extends 16.5 ha of vines. The vineyard consists of 70% Merlot, 24% Cabernet Franc & 6% Cabernet Sauvignon. The average age of the vines is around 40 years old. The harvest is manual and made in two passages, the sorting is carried out on 3 tables of successive sorts (2 before destacking and 1 after), the vatting is in new barrels (80% according to the vintages) of 600L.

The history of Château Beau-Séjour Bécot dates back to the 3rd century, when the Romans planted the first vines. It was in 1969 that Michel Bécot, then owner of Château La Carte, acquired Château Beau-Séjour. But it was not until 1979, when the estate grew, that it took the name we all know today. When Michel Bécot retired in 1985, his sons Gerard and Dominique took over, then joined by Juliette, the daughter of Gerard but also manager of his property of Côtes de Castillon Joanin Bécot.