Château Malescasse

The château

Malescasse lies at Lamarque, between Margaux and Saint-Julien, on the crest of the gravel rises that run along the Gironde, about 30 meters above sea level: sand, gravel and clay in layers of varying depth over limestone, poor and well drained. Its wines appear in the brokers’ records from the start of the 19th century, and the Renouil family built the neoclassical château in 1824. Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, list it under Renouil in 1868 and in 1874 give it 100 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels), the second vineyard of Lamarque in size, lying across Lamarque and Arcins. When G. Pigneguy bought it in 1887 he kept only what the edition of 1898 calls the best gravel vines on the finest rises of the commune, and that edition ranks it a cru bourgeois supérieur at 60 tonneaux; in 1922, under Dugoujon-Vérat, it counted among its awards a silver medal at the Liverpool exhibition of 1886.

Three owners have shaped the modern estate. Guy Tesseron, the Cognac merchant, owned it from 1970 to 1992, restored the buildings and replanted, and by 1992 it was back to its original 40 hectares. Alcatel-Alsthom held it from 1992 to 2012, and in 2012 it was bought by Philippe Austruy, who also owns the Commanderie de Peyrassol in Provence, Quinta da Côrte in the Douro and Tenuta Casenuove in Tuscany. Under Austruy the planting was taken from 6,600 to 10,000 vines a hectare over 3 years, and soil surveys were used to match variety and rootstock to each of the 28 plots, which are worked plot by plot, with cereals sown between the rows. Alban Cacaret is managing director, Bertrand Chemin has been cellar master since the middle of the 2000s, Nicolas Dudebout has managed the vineyard since 2014, and Stéphane Derenoncourt has consulted since 2012.

The blend moves with the year between Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, with Petit Verdot beside them: the 2022 is 49% Cabernet Sauvignon, 45.5% Merlot and 5.5% Petit Verdot. Since the 2017 vintage the wine has aged 12 months in barrels of 225 and 300 liters, in 3 equal parts: new barrels, barrels of 1 wine and barrels of 2. The estate also makes Le Moulin Rose de Malescasse and Simone de Malescasse. It has been a Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel since 2020, and the classification of February 2025 kept it at that rank, 1 of 14.

At a glance

Appellation

Haut-Médoc

Commune

Lamarque

Classification

Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel, 2020 and 2025, 1 of 14

Owner

Philippe Austruy, since 2012

Direction

Alban Cacaret, managing director; Bertrand Chemin, cellar master; Nicolas Dudebout, vineyard, since 2014

Consultant

Stéphane Derenoncourt, since 2012

Vineyard

40 hectares in a single estate, 28 plots; 10,000 vines a hectare

Soil

Sand, gravel and clay over limestone, on gravel rises about 30 meters above sea level Terroir of Haut-Médoc →

Grapes

The 2022: Cabernet Sauvignon 49%, Merlot 45.5%, Petit Verdot 5.5%

Cellar

12 months in barrels of 225 and 300 liters, 1 barrel in 3 new

Wines

Château Malescasse; Le Moulin Rose de Malescasse; Simone de Malescasse

In history

100 tonneaux in 1874; a cru bourgeois supérieur in 1898