Chateau Larcis Ducasse

Chateau Larcis Ducasse had its birth during the days of the ancient Romans who valued the best hillside vineyards in the area. The early part of the modern era for Larcis Ducasse begins in 1893 when Henri Raba bought the Saint Emilion vineyard. Chateau Larcis Ducasse remains the property of the Gratiot Alphandery family today. Prior to 2003, it had been years since the wines of Chateau Larcis Ducasse were prized by Bordeaux wine lovers.

The wine had fallen out of favor, due to a lack of attention and effort. That changed in 2002 shortly after they hired the team of well-known Saint Emilion consultants, Nicolas Thienpont and Stephane Derenoncourt to turn things around and manage the estate. Before 2002, the grapes were often picked early and over a short duration of 2 to 3 days. Now, the harvest takes place when the fruit is ripe and picking takes as long as 2 to 3 weeks to complete. Starting with the 2005 vintage, all work in the vineyards moved to 100% organic farming methods.

While the older plantings were done at a vine density of 6,600 vines per hectare, as the vineyard continues to be slowly replanted, the vine density is increasing with each subsequent replanting. The new plantings are being done between 7,500 vines per hectare and 9,000 vines per hectare. They are also using budwood obtained through selection massale. The yields are kept low at Larcis Ducasse. As an example, in 2009, the effective yields were only 25 hectoliters per hectare. To produce the wine of Chateau Larcis Ducasse, the grapes are whole berry fermented. The fruit is transported by gravity flow into traditional, cement tanks for fermentation. Cuvaison takes between 25-28 days. There are no pump-overs. Pigeages are conducted during fermentation. Malolactic fermentation takes place in barrels.

The wine is then aged in 67% new, French oak barrels, which are mixed in size, between standard barrels and 500 liter French, oak casks. The wine is then aged for an average of 18 to 20 months in barrel before bottling. A small portion of the wine is aged in amphora. The production is on average close to 4,000 cases of wine per vintage.

They have other good neighbors as well. To the south, you find Chateau Canon La Gaffeliere and La Gaffeliere, and as you move north, Chateau Troplong Mondot, Chateau Pavie Macquin is not far away.