Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste Pauillac Red 2019

The history of Grand-Puy-Lacoste is fascinating in many ways. It is a family saga going back to the 16th century.

The name Grand-Puy, already mentioned in documents from the Middle Ages, comes from the ancient term "puy” which means "hillock, small height”. True to its name, the vineyard sits on outcrops with a terroir similar to that of the Médoc's first growths. From Since the 16th century the property remained attached to a single family from generation to generation, in a direct line through marriage until 1920, before connecting with another family in 1978—the Borie.

The origins
Archives recounting the family history of Grand-Puy-Lacoste date from the 16th century.
The first owner on record was M. de Guiraud, a member of the Bordeaux Parliament.

The estate most often passed along female lines of inheritance and was the dowry in successive marriages. One of M. de Guiraud's daughters married M. de Jehan, another member of Parliament. Their son, Bertrand de Jehan, had a daughter who inherited the property and married M. d'Issac. Traditionally, an owner's name was added to a place-name (like Grand-Puy), but the inheriting daughters took their husbands' names upon marriage which explains the numerous changes of name by which Grand-Puy has been known. Thus when d'Issac's daughter married a Bordeaux lawyer named Saint Guirons, the property became "Grand-Puy Saint-Guirons”. It was their daughter, Marie-Jeanne de Saint Guirons, who married François Lacoste.

With this marriage in the 19th century the property acquired the name Lacoste. Still, the Saint-Guirons name remained as a reminder of the connection between the two families and of the property's heritage, so for a time the wines were labeled "Saint Guirons-Lacoste”. François Lacoste and Marie-Jeanne de Saint Guirons had three children, and after the couple's death their son Pierre-Frédéric Lacoste inherited the property in 1844.

Pierre-Frédéric Lacoste was an enterprising man, deeply committed to his estate. Like François-Xavier Borie the following century, Lacoste focused on quality and improving the wine's reputation. In 1855 he rebuilt the château, and that same year Grand-Puy-Lacoste's status was officially recognized by its inclusion in the official listing of Bordeaux's Great Classified Growths.

After the First World War, winemaking families in Bordeaux were living through difficult times. Elie and Edouard de Saint Légier d'Orignac, grandchildren of Pierre-Frédéric Lacoste, were destitute and had to sell the estate, ending almost five centuries of family ownership. On July 28, 1920, following the death of their mother, Jeanne Joséphine Lacoste, they ceded the property to two associates, Messrs. Hervieu and Neel, who in turn were forced to sell it in 1932.

The purchaser was Raymond Dupin, a well-known figure in Bordeaux society. He was a rich négociant, from a family of notaries in the Landes region owning vast pine forests south of Bordeaux. With a passion for vines and wines Dupin presided over the Council of the Médoc Great Classed Growths, and brought a very personal touch to Grand-Puy-Lacoste. Raymond Dupin was described as a colorful character, an epicure, a gastronome and a great connoisseur of wines, "one of Bordeaux's greatest gourmets of all time”. He was a man who loved lavish entertaining.

Raymond Dupin had no direct descendants. In 1978 at 83 years of age he decided to sell the domain, but he wanted to choose his own successor: a "real Médocain”, a professional with children interested in winemaking who would continue working the property. Dupin knew and admired Jean-Eugène Borie; the two men reached an agreement and the transaction was soon made.

Jean-Eugène Borie soon gave his eldest son, François-Xavier, full control of Grand-Puy-Lacoste. They worked together until 1992, when François-Xavier's father named him to lead the company which managed Grand-Puy-Lacoste, Ducru-Beaucaillou and Haut-Batailley. In 2003, following the company's division, François-Xavier Borie created "Domaines François-Xavier Borie”, owner of Grand-Puy-Lacoste and manager of the vineyards at Haut-Batailley.

As determined, demanding and diligent as Jean-Eugène, François-Xavier has raised Grand-Puy-Lacoste to the level of a "great Pauillac" and ensures that it maintains that status.

Source: Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste website