Chateau Lagrange St. Julien Bordeaux Wine

Chateau Lagrange

Chateau Lagrange St. Julien, Bordeaux wine producer, Third Growth, profile, with wine tasting notes, wine ratings, a history of the property, information on wine making and terroir, along with wine tasting reviews. If you want to read about other important, Bordeaux Chateaux: Links to all Bordeaux Wine Producer Profiles

Chateau Lagrange started out life as Maison Noble de Lagrange Monteil as far back as the middle ages. Historical documents mention the future Bordeaux wine producing estate as far back to 1631. During the 18th century, the picturesque estate was the property of the Baron de Brane. The Baron was better known for counting among his holdings, Brane Cantenac and Brane Mouton, which we are more familiar with as Mouton Rothschild. When the Baron was in charge of the estate, the wines were sold as Baron St. Julien. Like most Bordeaux wine estates, the property passed though numerous hands. For a time, it belonged to John Lewis Brown who owned Cantenac Brown in Margaux as well as Chateau Brown in Pessac Leognan.

However, Chateau Lagrange did not become well-known for producing Bordeau wine until 1842. That is when Count Duchatel added a drainage system in the vineyard. This helped improve the wine immensely. While drainage in vineyards is common today, that was very forward thinking in 1842.
 
Chateau Lagrange eventually lost interest with consumers. In debt, the owners sold some of their vineyard land to survive. The first major sale took place in 1840. That was the year that Chateau Lagrange downsized from 280 hectares to 157 hectares. That sale would not be the last time Chateau Lagrange downsized their still large, Medoc vineyards. Due to neglect and debt, the owners of Chateau Lagrange were forced to sell more of their prized St. Julien vineyard property. In 1970, 32 hectares were acquired by Ducru Beaucaillou. Other parcels were sold to Henri Martin. Those plots became part of Chateau Gloria. By 1983, the remaining holdings of Lagrange were purchased by the large, Japanese company, Suntory.

The Cendoya family had owned Chateau Lagrange since 1925 before selling it to Suntory. The sale was a good decision for the Left Bank chateau. Suntory brought the funds needed to renovate the wine making facilities and replant the vineyards. Chateau has also recently undergone a lot of renovation in their wine making facilities and cellars. The construction will be completed by 2013. All the effort and investment expended by Suntory have allowed Chateau Lagrange to produce a much better wine.

The St. Julien vineyards of Chateau Lagrange rest on gravel based soils. The red wine grapes are planted to 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 28% Merlot and 7% Petit Verdot. The terroir is mostly gravel with sand, however some parcels have clay deposits with iron as well. The wine of Chateau Lagrange is vinified in temperature controlled, stainless steel vats that range in size. The smallest vat is 66 hectoliters, with the largest vats coming in at 220 hectoliters. The selection of the press wine is done on a vat by vat basis. The wine is aged in 60% new, French oak for 21 months.

Interestingly, Chateau Lagrange is one of the few St. Julien properties to produce a white wine. The wine is blended from approximately 60% Sauvignon Blanc, 30% Semillon and 10% Muscadelle in most vintages. On average, the estate produced 25,000 cases of Bordeaux wine per year. There is a second wine, Les Fief de Lagrange, and a third wine, Les Arums de Lagrange. In 2012, the estate added a new wine to their portfolio. Produced from 16 hectares of vineyard land in the Haut Medoc appellation they recently purchased, the wine will sold under the name of Haut Medoc de Lagrange.

www.chateau-lagrange.com