Chateau Beaumont

A fairly recent arrival in contrast to most other Bordeaux properties. The estate was a mixture of arable, pasture and moor-land owned by the Duc de Duras, marshal of France. In 1772 it was bought up by a certain Henri Labarthe who painstakingly cleared and drained the land in order to establish his very own vineyard. It only took the name Beaumont when it was acquired by M Bonnie in 1824, before in turn falling into the hands of Marquis d’Allegre – one of the most obscenely wealthy men in France at the time.

The chateau itself is in the Mansard Renaissance style which became something of an architectural craze after Napoleon declared the Second Empire in France. Especially prominent are the exotic octagonal turrets put up in 1854 by the Bonnin brothers who acquired the property from d’Allegre in 1849. After this the estate was handed down to a number of noteworthy individuals – Comte de Gennes (1860), Jean-Victor Herran, Minister for Honduras (1872) and the French industrialist Joseph Germain (1890). The latter poured money into the estate vineyards which trebled in size.

During the 1900s the estate came into the possession of various owners in rapid succession including Della Grazia company of Milan, Lieutenant Colonel Ignacio Andrade, a retired Venezuelan senator called Dionisio Ramon Boliar Carvajal, a relation of the Latin American revolutionary Simon Bolivar, before finally coming into the hands of Bernard Soulas – who refurbished the grand chateau.

In 1986 the property was acquired by the Société Grands Millésimes de France – a result of the partnership between Groupe GMF and Suntory. The new owners were delighted to find themselves with 105 hectares of vineyard planted on drained, gravelly and deep soils.

Cabernet Sauvignon makes up 60 percent of the land with 35 percent Merlot and the remaining 5 a mix of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. The vines average out at 25 years of age. Stainless steel, temperature-controlled vats are used with three weeks of maceration. 4000 cases are produced a year.