Photo courtesy of Chateau Beausejour

Chateau Beausejour’s Re-Birth and Third Phase
2018 & 2019 Magnificent Duo

Chateau Beausejour Duffau-Lagarrosee is perhaps one of the least known estates of St. Emilion’s stunning hillside vineyards and legendary limestone plateau. Nestled amongst Beau-sejour Becot, Clos Fourtet, Canon and Angelus, this property underwent a re-birth in 2009 when the Duffau Lagarrosse family finally agreed to make the necessary investments in the property and hired Nicolas Thienpont and Stephane Derenoncourt to manage the vineyards and winemaking. Prior to 2009, this property was not on the Bordeaux collectors hit list except for the 1990 Vintage that Robert Parker called his “Desert Island Wine.”

However, the immediate quality and success of the 2009 vintage from Thienpont and Derenoncourt gave a re-birth to Beausejour that has continued straight through to 2020, placing this property back on top of collector’s must-have lists. For a St. Emilion property, production is quite small and limited with the 2018 vintage yielding roughly only 800 cases. With Thienpont in control of the estate managing the property for the numerous family shareholders, swift and vast improvements were made at this A+ terroir. Thienpont and Derenoncourt conducted parcel by parcel harvesting and fermentation, a more stringent selection was developed during the pick and at the sorting table before crushing. Micro fermentations began and the dream team of Thienpont and Derenoncourt was joined by Michel Rolland for the final blend. The experience and knowledge that Thienpont and Derenoncourt have brought to Beausejour not only raised the property to its peer set but turned Beausejour into one of the most desired properties of St. Emilion. In 2020, the numerous heirs and shareholders placed the Chateau on the market. After much interest and legal battles, the property was poised to be sold to Clos Fourtet, one of Derenoncourt’s clients, or Chateau Angelus. However, at the last minute Josephine Duffau-Lagrosse, one of the heirs, was able to form a partnership with the Courtin-Clarins family, Clarins Cosmetics, and was granted the purchase of Beausejour in court, taking this property into its third phase of evolution that is poised for great success.

While we are waiting to truly see the wine’s character in bottle from Josephine Duffau-Lagrosse, what we do know is that the last few vintages from Thienpont and Derenoncourt are absolutelymarvelous. The combined efforts of these two masters of Merlot, Cabernet Franc and St. Emilion from this historic Chateau that has it all in St. Emilion: clay, limestone, hillsides, plateau and a range of elevations, is nothing short of remarkable in 12 short years.

Cheers,
Jeremy