Château Doisy-Dubroca

The estate

This is the Doisy that took the name of the Dubroca brothers. Clarets and Sauternes, a guide published in 1920, tells how the vineyard, once undivided in 1 family, was split into 3 on the death of the 3 children who inherited it, the parts becoming Doisy-Gravas, Doisy-Daëne and Védrines. The Dubrocas bought the Gravas part between 1868 and 1874. Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, still list Saint-Cyr-Debans there in 1868, at 15 to 25 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels); in 1874 they print Dubroca frères at 25, and by 1908 the name Château Doisy-Dubroca is in print, under Marcel Dubroca, at 15 tonneaux.

Lucien Lurton bought it in 1971, at the same time as Climens, and his family held it for more than 40 years. By then it had already given up 6 hectares, which went in 1968 to the Dubourdieus next door and into Doisy-Daëne. What remained was pulled up in 2012, and in 2014 the Lurtons sold the property to Denis Dubourdieu, who let the soil rest before replanting. He died in 2016 and did not see the first wine of the new vineyard; his sons Jean-Jacques and Fabrice, who run the family properties, made it in 2019.

The vineyard is 1.5 hectares of clay and limestone, planted to Sémillon and nothing else. The wine ferments and is raised in barrel, 1 third of it new, for 12 months, and then spends 6 months in stainless steel before bottling. There is 1 wine and no second.

At a glance

Appellation

Barsac; the wines may also be sold as Sauternes

Commune

Barsac

Classification

Deuxième Cru Classé 1855

Owners

The Dubourdieu family, since 2014; the Lurton family from 1971

Direction

Jean-Jacques and Fabrice Dubourdieu

Vineyard

1.5 hectares, the smallest planting among the classified growths of Sauternes and Barsac; pulled up in 2012 and replanted

Ground

Clay and limestone

Grapes

Sémillon

Cellar

Fermented and raised in barrel, 1 third new, for 12 months, then 6 months in stainless steel

Wines

Château Doisy-Dubroca, and nothing else; made again from the 2019 vintage

In history

The Gravas part of Doisy, bought by the Dubroca brothers between 1868 and 1874

Sources: Vignobles Denis Dubourdieu, Château Doisy-Dubroca · Decanter, Denis Dubourdieu buys Château Doisy-Dubroca · INAO, cahier des charges Barsac