Château Fourcas Dupré

The estate

Vines grew at the place called Fourcas as early as the beginning of the 13th century, and the estate took its present name in 1843, when Maître Jean Antoine Dupré became its owner. William Franck, whose Traité sur les vins du Médoc first appeared in 1824, lists the cru of M. Dupré at Listrac in his edition of 1845, then called Crû Roullet, and Armand d’Armailhacq, a Pauillac grower, in his La culture des vignes, la vinification et les vins dans le Médoc of 1855, puts Dupré at the head of the bourgeois supérieurs of Listrac. Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, printed it as Fourcas from 1868 and as Fourcas-Dupré from 1883. The Cathala family owned it from 1886, and in 1895 M. Cathala won a gold medal at the exhibition of the Société Philomathique by showing 10 consecutive vintages, a confident way to prove a wine. By 1901 the estate had 80 hectares, 30 of them vines almost in 1 block, which Cocks and Féret called rare in the Médoc, planted mainly with Cabernet Sauvignon.

The Pagès family took Fourcas Dupré over in 1970. In 2019 Gérard Jicquel, a Breton who co-founded the services group Samsic in 1986 and ran it, bought the estate; his wine company, Beautiful Life Wines, joins it with Château d’Agassac. Lucas Leclercq, an engineer and oenologist, is managing director, and Gilles Bergerot, the technical director, has been at the estate for 17 years.

The vineyard lies between Moulis and Saint-Julien on the Fourcas plateau, which rises to 42 meters, on more than 80% Pyrenean gravel over subsoils of clay, limestone and clay and limestone. Treatments have been cut back, the weeds are handled mechanically and the soil is fed with organic fertilizer. The cellar has temperature-controlled vats and keeps its old vat room for visitors, and the red ages 12 to 14 months in French oak barrels, 1 third renewed each year. There is a white too; the 2024 is 75% Sauvignon Blanc and 25% Sémillon.

At a glance

Appellation

Listrac-Médoc

Commune

Listrac-Médoc, on the Fourcas plateau

Classification

No classification

Owner

Gérard Jicquel, since 2019

Direction

Lucas Leclercq, managing director; Gilles Bergerot, technical director

Ground

More than 80% Pyrenean gravel over clay and limestone, on a plateau at 42 meters

Farming

Fewer treatments; mechanical weeding; organic fertilizer

Cellar

Temperature-controlled vats; 12 to 14 months in French oak, 1 third new

Wines

Château Fourcas Dupré, red and white

The house

Beautiful Life Wines: also Château d’Agassac, Haut-Médoc

In history

Crû Roullet of M. Dupré in 1845; Fourcas-Dupré from 1883; 80 hectares, 30 of vines, in 1901

Sources: Château Fourcas Dupré, home · Château Fourcas Dupré, history (French) · Château Fourcas Dupré, vineyards and cellars · Château Fourcas Dupré, the teams · Château Fourcas Dupré, environmental commitments · Beautiful Life Wines, Château Fourcas Dupré Blanc 2024