Château de Ricaud
Château de Ricaud
South of the city of Bordeaux, on the hills of Loupiac above the right bank of the Garonne, stands a neo-Gothic château that might have stepped out of a storybook: Château de Ricaud. Its origins reach back to the fifteenth century — to 1452, at the close of the Hundred Years' War, when the knight Bernard de Lamansance was ennobled by Gaston de Foix for his service in battle. The building as it stands today dates from an 1865 remodelling by the architect Alphonse Blaquière, working in the spirit of Viollet-le-Duc, and together with grounds shaded by trees more than three centuries old it never fails to enchant a visitor.
The golden age of winemaking here began with the industrialist William Wells and his son Maurice, who bought the property in 1872. From 1897 onward their Loupiac collected medals in Paris, London and Brussels, and by the 1950s the wine had earned the affectionate nickname "the Yquem of the right bank".
The château's fortunes turned again over a single glass. Tasting a 1929 Château de Ricaud at a grand restaurant in Paris, the Champagne producer Alain Thiénot fell for the wine at first sip — and in 1980 he became the estate's owner. In 2007 he entrusted the work to the team at Dourthe, the distinguished house founded in 1840, and a far-reaching programme of restoration began.
The vineyard lies in a single sweep within a natural amphitheatre, blessed with ideal sunlight and drainage. Detailed soil surveys have identified some fifty distinct soil profiles, and it is this diversity that gives Ricaud its complexity. Of 66 hectares in total, only ten are planted to white varieties. Farmed responsibly under Terra Vitis and HVE (High Environmental Value) certification, the Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon are picked parcel by parcel at optimum ripeness, vinified in temperature-controlled stainless steel and aged on their lees.
The passion of a Champagne master, and the winemaking expertise of Dourthe. The story of this historic château's full revival is reaching its finest chapter right now.
