Château Dassault

The château

Victor Fourcaud created the estate in 1862 as Château Couperie, joining the property of Couperie to those of Colombier and Pagaud. Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, gave it its first notice in the English edition of 1883: about 25 hectares in one unbroken block, with 3 hectares of meadow and pleasure garden around the house and 25 to 30 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels) from the rest. By 1893 it made 40 tonneaux, on soil siliceous over clay and alios in places, clay and sand with flint in others, and in 1889 it had won a gold medal at the Paris exposition.

Marcel Dassault bought it in 1955 and gave it his own name. The timing is the story: the first Saint-Émilion classification was drawn up that same year, and Couperie was not on it. The revision of November 17, 1969 made Château Dassault a Grand Cru Classé, and it has kept the rank at every revision since, in 1986, 1996, 2006, 2012 and in the list approved in September 2022. On Marcel Dassault’s death in 1986 the estate passed to his sons, and Laurent Dassault has run it since 1994. The family bought Château La Fleur in 2002 and later took in Château Faurie de Souchard, and in 1998 the Dassault group took a 5% holding in Cheval Blanc.

The vines grow on the slope of Saint-Émilion that faces north, on clay and limestone and on sandy clay over limestone, about two thirds Merlot with Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon, 27 years old on average. Michel Rolland, who died in March 2026, advised the estate from 1973; Louis Mitjavile has advised on the vineyard since 2000, and Thomas Duclos is the consulting enologist. The estate holds Haute Valeur Environnementale (High Environmental Value, the French state’s environmental certification for farms) at level 3 and ISO 14001 and is certified Bee Friendly. The wine is raised 14 to 16 months in new barrels, barrels of 1 vintage, large casks and amphorae. D de Dassault, the second wine, was first released in 1995.

At a glance

Appellation

Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

Commune

Saint-Émilion, on the slope that faces north

Classification

Grand Cru Classé, 1969 to 2022; not in the first list of 1955

Owners

The Dassault family, since 1955

Direction

Laurent Dassault, since 1994

Consultants

Thomas Duclos, enologist; Louis Mitjavile, on the vineyard, since 2000

Vineyard

Vines 27 years old on average

Soil

Clay and limestone; sandy clay over limestone Terroir of Saint-Émilion →

Grapes

About two thirds Merlot, with Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon

Farming

Haute Valeur Environnementale, level 3; ISO 14001; Bee Friendly

Cellar

14 to 16 months in new barrels, barrels of 1 vintage, large casks and amphorae

Wines

Château Dassault; D de Dassault, since 1995

The earlier name

Château Couperie, created in 1862

In history

Couperie, 25 hectares in one block at 25 to 30 tonneaux, in 1883; 40 tonneaux in 1893

Took in

Château Faurie de Souchard