Château Laujac

The château

Laujac stands at Bégadan, in the north of the Médoc, and its name was in the books early. André Jullien, the Paris wine merchant whose Topographie de tous les vignobles connus of 1816 surveyed the vineyards of the world, already singled it out for wines that resemble those of Pauillac a little. The Cruse family bought it in 1852 for 400,000 francs, a sale that William Franck, whose Traité sur les vins du Médoc first appeared in 1824, counted among the great purchases of the Médoc in his edition of 1853, when Laujac was making 200 to 250 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels). Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, called it the first growth of the commune in 1883, and in 1886 described 65 hectares on a broad, high plateau of gravel, run together with Laffite but making a different wine. In 1898 it belonged to Hermann, Frédéric and Henri Cruse. The château, neoclassical in the Palladian manner, is listed as a historic monument; the cellar was built in 1874.

Then the 20th century nearly undid it. Phylloxera at its start, 2 world wars and the frosts of 1956 left only 8 hectares of vines when Bernard Cruse took over in 1957. He made 55 vintages before handing Laujac in 2012 to his daughter Vanessa and his son-in-law, René-Philippe Duboscq; 6 generations of the family have now worked at Laujac, today with a team of 15. It belongs to Domaines Laujac, which also makes Château Laffitte Laujac and its second wine, L de Laffitte Laujac. Laujac was in the first Cru Bourgeois list, of 1932, and the classification of February 2025 made it a Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel, 1 of 14.

The soil is of 2 kinds. Tertiary clay and limestone gives full, concentrated wine and suits Merlot; fine gravel of the Pliocene and Quaternary drains freely and suits Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot. The vines are pruned double Guyot, the soil is worked and sown with cover crops, and the estate’s own cattle supply the manure. Château Laujac is 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot and 5% Petit Verdot, from vines 25 years old on average, planted at 6,600 to the hectare. It is picked by machine, destemmed, sorted 2 times, macerated 3 to 4 weeks in temperature-controlled stainless steel and aged 12 months in French oak, 30% of it new: about 200,000 bottles a year.

At a glance

Appellation

Médoc

Commune

Bégadan

Classification

In the first Cru Bourgeois list, of 1932; Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel in 2025, 1 of 14

Owners

The Cruse family, since 1852; Vanessa and René-Philippe Duboscq since 2012

Vineyard

Vines 25 years old on average; 6,600 vines a hectare

Soil

Tertiary clay and limestone; fine gravel of the Pliocene and Quaternary Terroir of Médoc →

Grapes

Cabernet Sauvignon 60%, Merlot 35%, Petit Verdot 5%

Farming

Double Guyot; soil worked and sown with cover crops; manure from the estate’s cattle

Cellar

Picked by machine; sorted 2 times; 3 to 4 weeks in stainless steel; 12 months in French oak, 30% new

Production

About 200,000 bottles a year

Wines

Château Laujac; from the same house, Château Laffitte Laujac and L de Laffitte Laujac

The house

A Palladian château listed as a historic monument; a cellar of 1874

In history

Singled out in 1816; 200 to 250 tonneaux in 1853; the first growth of Bégadan in 1883