Château Branaire-Ducru

The estate

Jean-Baptiste Braneyre founded the estate in 1680, and for a long time the name on it was somebody else’s. The Du Luc family built the château in 1824, and the trade knew the wine as Duluc: William Franck, whose Traité sur les vins du Médoc first appeared that same year, ranked Duluc a fourth growth making 80 to 90 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels), and Charles Cocks was still printing Duluc in 1846 and 1850. The brokers of 1855 placed it among the fourth growths. Branaire reached print only in 1868, when Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, listed Branaire-Du Luc under Ducru, Gustave Ducru having inherited it; Branaire-Ducru, the name on today’s label, first appears in 1886. The Ducru family kept the estate until 1919. Patrick Maroteaux bought it in 1988, and his son François-Xavier took over in 2017.

The 60 hectares lie on Quaternary alluvium of silica and gravel, mapped into about 15 micro-terroirs and planted 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 28% Merlot, 4% Petit Verdot and 3% Cabernet Franc, with vines 35 years old on average. The vat room went over to gravity in 1991, early for the Médoc, and since the 2022 vintage the wine has been made in a new hall of 65 vats hung above the floor. Jean-Dominique Videau has made the blend since 2002. The wine spends at least 18 months in oak, 60% new, and every bottle is filled at the château. Duluc de Branaire-Ducru, which keeps the old name alive, is the second wine. The estate has held Haute Valeur Environnementale (High Environmental Value, the French state’s environmental certification for farms), level 3, since 2017 and ISO 14001 since 2020.

At a glance

Appellation

Saint-Julien

Classification

Quatrième Cru Classé 1855; MICHELIN Guide, 1 grape (2026)

Owners

The Maroteaux family, since 1988; François-Xavier Maroteaux since 2017

Vineyard

60 hectares; vines 35 years old on average

Ground

Quaternary alluvium of silica and gravel, about 15 micro-terroirs

Grapes

Cabernet Sauvignon 65%, Merlot 28%, Petit Verdot 4%, Cabernet Franc 3%

Farming

Haute Valeur Environnementale, level 3, since 2017; ISO 14001 since 2020

Cellar

Gravity since 1991; 65 suspended vats since the 2022 vintage; at least 18 months in oak, 60% new; blended by Jean-Dominique Videau since 2002

Wines

Château Branaire-Ducru; Duluc de Branaire-Ducru

In history

A fourth growth as Duluc in 1824; Branaire-Ducru first printed in 1886

Sources: Château Branaire-Ducru, history and terroir · Château Branaire-Ducru, vinification and maturation · Château Branaire-Ducru, the vintages · Conseil des Grands Crus Classés en 1855, the classification by appellation