Château Marquis d’Alesme Becker

The château

The Marquis d’Alesme had the land from 1585, and vines went in in 1616. The Becker half of the name belongs to Jan Bekker Teerlink, a Dutchman the Bordeaux trade called Monsieur Becker, who bought the estate in 1809; for a time the wine was sold simply as Becker. From 1938 to 2006 it belonged to the Zuger family of Malescot Saint-Exupéry, with Edith Ritz, and the house that came with it is the old Château Desmirail, which the state still inventories under that name.

Hubert Perrodo, the founder of the oil company Perenco, bought it in 2006 and died the same year in a skiing accident above Courchevel. His daughter Nathalie Perrodo has led the family’s wine estates since, through Domaines P., which also holds Château Labégorce and Château La Tour de Mons, and Marjolaine Maurice de Coninck has been general manager of the Margaux properties since 2010. The family changed the vineyard from the roots up. It is 15 hectares at 10,000 vines a hectare, with vines 40 years old on average and 40% of them replanted since 2006, on silica and gravel, silica and marl, and clay and limestone. Cabernet Sauvignon, about 30% under the Zugers, is now 63%, with 30% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot and 2% Cabernet Franc. The estate farms to Haute Valeur Environnementale (High Environmental Value, the French state’s environmental certification for farms), held across Domaines P. since 2020, and has chosen to stay outside organic certification.

The cellar, by the architect Fabien Pédelaborde, was working for the 2015 harvest, and its references are Chinese, for Carrie Perrodo, who is from Singapore: moon gates at the entrances, a dragon’s tail of 22,000 bronze scales under the roof, a vat room raised without nails on the principle of the Temple of Heaven, and every space dimensioned on the number 9, the number of the Ming emperors. The wine is labeled Marquis d’Alesme. Marquise d’Alesme has been the second wine since 1988, and Saam Long, 3 dragons, is a white of Chardonnay, Petit Manseng and Albariño from 1.5 hectares planted from 2017, first served in May 2024.

At a glance

Appellation

Margaux

Commune

Margaux

Classification

Troisième Cru Classé 1855, as Marquis d’Alesme Becker

Owners

The Perrodo family, through Domaines P., since 2006

Direction

Marjolaine Maurice de Coninck, general manager, since 2010

Vineyard

15 hectares; 10,000 vines a hectare; vines 40 years old on average, 40% replanted since 2006

Soil

Silica and gravel, silica and marl, clay and limestone Terroir of Margaux →

Grapes

Cabernet Sauvignon 63%, Merlot 30%, Petit Verdot 5%, Cabernet Franc 2%

Farming

Haute Valeur Environnementale, since 2020; no organic certification, by choice

Cellar

By Fabien Pédelaborde, working for the 2015 harvest; 22,000 bronze dragon scales; a vat room raised without nails

Wines

Château Marquis d’Alesme; Marquise d’Alesme, since 1988; Saam Long, white, first served in May 2024

The house

The old Château Desmirail