Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, a Grand Cru Classé in the Saint-Julien appellation in the Haut-Médoc, takes its name from the French term “beau caillou,” or beautiful stones, which are found in the estate’s soil.

The château’s history dates back 300 years, and the Borie family has owned and run it for the past 80 years. It’s currently managed by Monique and Jean Eugène Borie’s son, Bruno-Eugène. The 245-hectare estate (180 of which are planted with vines) is crowned by a neo-classical château built in the 1820s whose living room overlooks the cellars and Gironde estuary, which was redesigned and decorated in the Victorian style at the end of the 19th century by famed architect Michel-Louis Garros.

The volume of the estate’s first wine has been cut in half to just 8,000 cases in recent vintages, part of a strict selecting policy working only with flawless grapes. Using new, certified French oak barrels, Ducru-Beaucaillou is one of the few estates to embrace long barrel aging to ensure a better potential for aging in the bottle. The philosophy of Château Ducru-Beaucaillou is driven by natural curiosity toward the world with enlightened innovations.