A discreet property that remains a must in Saint-Julien.
History
It all began in 1680, when Jean-Baptiste Braneyre, a royal notary of Bordeaux, acquired parcels of vines formerly belonging to Château Beychevelle. But it was not until 1824 that a castle was built there on the initiative of his descendants, the Duluc family. It is, especially under their direction that in 1855, the castle will be raised to the rank of 4th Grand Cru Classé at the time of publication of the classification of Médoc wines required by Napoleon III.
Unfortunately, in 1856, Louis Duluc died without direct issue. His nephew, Gustave Ducru, inherited the property. He will then rename the castle in Branaire-Ducru, in tribute to the different families who made the great hours of the property.
Throughout the 20th century the castle passed into the hands of many families, until 1988, when Patrick Maroteaux bought the property. He will then undertake tedious renovation work to restore momentum to this sleepy castle. A dynamic, avant-garde man who will never cease to defend the name of Saint-Julien of which he will be its president from 2004 to 2017, as well as the Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux, of which he was president from 2000 to 2008. Unfortunately, he will die too soon, in 2017, following a long illness. His son François-Xavier thus took over the estate, with the same passion and dynamism that animated his late father.
The vine and its terroir
The area of the vineyard extends over 60 hectares, from East to West, with scattered plots of vines, mainly distributed in the municipality of Beychevelle and Saint-Laurent, which, moreover, are allowed to be included in the AOC Saint-Julien.
The vines are 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 28% Merlot, 4% Petit Verdot and 3% Cabernet Franc. The average age of the vineyard is 35 years. To maintain this average, 2 hectares of vines are renewed every 6 years or so.
The soil, meanwhile, is mainly composed of gravels-siliceous and sand with clay subsoil. Such a terroir is therefore conducive to the development of all these grape varieties.
A vat room at the cutting edge of technology
Even if, in 1991 under the impulse of Patrick Maroteaux important works were undertaken, in January 2021 the decision was taken to bring out of the earth a vat room and a cellar last generation to the requirements of the Maroteaux family.
Initially a vat room was built. Composed of 75 suspended stainless steel tanks, this allows a work both gravity but also parcellar, with the aim of going even further in detail and precision during winemaking. This vat room has been operational since the 2022 vintage, although there were still some finishing touches to bring the day of my visit.
The fact that it is gravity is not an innovation since Patrick Maroteaux had, during the restoration work of the castle on his arrival, built a vat room composed of 28 tanks, then adding 10 more thereafter, allowing gravity work. Quite avant-garde for the time it must be admitted.
The fact that the tanks are suspended is also a guarantee of safety, since the cellar workers are brought to work on the level of these tanks, they have a stable structure on which to progress and work in peace.
The barrel cellar is located in the basement of this vat room.
Working in the vineyard and cellar
If wine production is an ancestral method, the way of performing it remains specific to each property.
In Branaire-Ducru man works in symbiosis with nature, the ecosystem and its vineyard. Awarded the High Environmental Value Level 3 certificate since 2017, the property can also boast of being BeeFriendly certified since 2021. A certificate rewarding farmers with a virtuous environmental approach to bees and other pollinators. Finally, in 2023, the castle was rewarded for its social, environmental and economic approach, the CSR label "Grow Tomorrow" level 2. All these certificates are proof that the Château Branaire-Ducru demonstrates a daily commitment to the environment and its staff.
In the vineyard, therefore, we limit inputs, promoting the use of biocontrol products. We take care of the ecosystem around us. Hedgerows have also been planted along some plots.
Once the harvest time has come, about 80 to 90 pickers, over a period of 2 to 4 weeks, cross the rows of vines to harvest the grapes. A challenging task that concretizes the work of a whole year. However, when the weather becomes capricious, it is possible that the decision is taken to temporarily stop the harvest. The goal is to avoid harvesting grapes whose concentration would be diluted by a too brutal intake of water.
After being picked up, the grapes head towards the winery where there is, first, a manual sorting and then, in a second time, an optical sorting made by a sorter on which the exact size of the grapes that are desired will be entered in the parameters. Their introduction into the tank will be done, as discussed above, in a gravity way.
During the vinification, one to two pumping-ups are carried out daily, after the cellar master has tasted all the tanks to judge the progress of the juices. In Branaire-Ducru, coinculation is performed, that is to say, malolactic fermentation is done during winemaking.
Once this step is completed, the assembly is decided, in agreement with the oenologist Éric Boissenot, long-time friend of François-Xavier Maroteaux, as well as Jean-Dominique Videau the director of the castle. Indeed, here, we assemble the wines before introducing them in barrels during their aging, which will last at least 18 months.
Château Branaire-Ducru uses French oak barrels from 3 to 4 coopers maximum, the main being Taransaud. For great wine, 60 to 65% of the barrels are made of new wood, the rest being barrels of a wine (that is, they have already been used in the aging of a vintage before). For the second wine we will even use barrels of two wines.
Once the aging is complete, the wine is bottled at the castle.
You will have understood, we are here in the presence of a castle where demand and benevolence blend harmoniously in order to produce wines able to cross the decades.
