Château Laroque

The château

Laroque is a tower before it is a vineyard. It went up in the 12th century, under Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine, and a Baroque façade was set against it in the 19th. The estate was developed from 1743 under the Marquis de Lavie and the Count of Rochefort, and the marquis de Rochefort-Lavie still held it in every edition of Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret’s Bordeaux et ses vins, the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, from 1874 to 1922. It was a big property even then: 130 hectares and 66 ares across Saint-Christophe-des-Bardes and Saint-Hippolyte in 1898, 250 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels) in most years and 325 in 1908, when Féret singled out its vat house as the finest in the country: 26 meters by 16, built at the head of 3 chais holding 1,500 barrels, on 2 floors, with rolling presses and a railway.

The Beaumartin family bought Laroque in 1935. It stayed outside the classification in 1955, 1969 and 1986, came in for the first time in 1996 and has held Grand Cru Classé at every revision since, in 2006, 2012 and 2022. Xavier Beaumartin took over the running of the estate in 2004, David Suire joined in 2015, and Stanislas Droin has been director since 2018.

The 61 hectares of vines sit within 84 hectares of land: a plateau of red and chestnut clay over starfish limestone, terraces facing east, and slopes of very chalky, fine, blueish clay facing west. Merlot leads, with Cabernet Franc and a little Cabernet Sauvignon, and the wine is raised in barrels and in large oak casks of up to 9,000 liters. The size matters less than the selection: only 45 to 50% of the crop goes into Château Laroque, and the rest, from the younger vines of the plateau, becomes Les Tours de Laroque.

At a glance

Appellation

Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

Commune

Saint-Christophe-des-Bardes

Classification

Grand Cru Classé, 1996, 2006, 2012 and 2022; not in the lists of 1955, 1969 and 1986

Owners

The Beaumartin family, since 1935

Direction

Xavier Beaumartin, from 2004; Stanislas Droin, director since 2018; David Suire, since 2015

Vineyard

61 hectares of vines inside 84 hectares

Soil

A plateau of red and chestnut clay over starfish limestone; terraces facing east; slopes of chalky blueish clay facing west Terroir of Saint-Émilion →

Grapes

Mostly Merlot, with Cabernet Franc and a little Cabernet Sauvignon

Cellar

Barrels and oak casks of up to 9,000 liters; 45 to 50% of the crop in the first wine

Wines

Château Laroque; Les Tours de Laroque, from the younger vines of the plateau

The tower

12th century, under Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine, with a Baroque façade of the 19th century

In history

250 tonneaux under the marquis de Rochefort-Lavie from 1874; 325 in 1908