Château Bouscaut

Bouscaut's renown dates to the 17th century, when the property appeared under the name Haut Truchon. In 1876 the vineyard took the name of its lieu-dit, Le Bouscaut. In 1925 the Courtade family sold the estate to Victor Place, who, with the Comte de Rivaud, undertook extensive work that included draining the vineyard and renovating the cellars, and in 1930 raised the château's roof and added a tower. The neighbouring property, Château Valoux, was bought in 1929. In 1953 Château Bouscaut was classified as a Cru Classé de Graves for its white and red wines. A fire damaged the tower on 6 September 1961, and a year later an accidental fire destroyed the château entirely while sparing the working buildings. Its identical reconstruction, by the Bordeaux architect Michel Garros working from the original plans on Victor Place's instructions, was completed in 1966. In 1968 a group of North American investors from the East Coast acquired the estate, and in 1979 Lucien and Marie-Jeanne Lurton bought it. Lucien Lurton, who inherited Château Brane-Cantenac, acquired around ten crus in the 1970s and 1980s, among them Climens in Barsac and Desmirail and Durfort-Vivens in the Médoc. His brother, André Lurton, was the principal figure in the founding of the Pessac-Léognan appellation in 1987. Since 1992 Sophie Lurton, the seventh of Lucien and Marie-Jeanne Lurton's eleven children, has held Bouscaut and run it with her husband, Laurent Cogombles. In 1999 the estate acquired the 9 hectares of Château Lamothe-Bouscaut in Cadaujac, which it had farmed under lease since the 1940s.

• Known as Haut Truchon in the 17th century; named after the lieu-dit Le Bouscaut from 1876
• Château destroyed by an accidental fire a year after a 1961 blaze; identical reconstruction completed in 1966
• Acquired by North American investors in 1968 and by Lucien and Marie-Jeanne Lurton in 1979
• Held by Sophie Lurton and run with Laurent Cogombles since 1992
• The 9 hectares of Château Lamothe-Bouscaut acquired in 1999

Château Bouscaut is managed by Sophie Lurton, her husband Laurent Cogombles and their son Armand Cogombles. Laurent Cogombles chaired the Pessac-Léognan appellation from 2005 to 2017. Armand Cogombles, the eldest son, joined the estate in 2020 and is responsible for selling its wines, alongside commercial work for the family négociant business La Passion des Terroirs. The estate's technical sheets name Edouard Massie as consultant oenologist for the 2022 Château Bouscaut rouge, the 2020 Les Chênes de Bouscaut rouge and the 2022 Les Chênes de Bouscaut blanc, and Thomas Duclos for the 2023 and 2024 Château Bouscaut blanc. Matthieu Cogombles, the youngest of the family's four sons, drew the charcoal image of the château on the labels of Les Chênes de Bouscaut.

• Sophie Lurton: holder of the estate since 1992
• Laurent Cogombles: runs the estate with Sophie Lurton; president of the Pessac-Léognan appellation from 2005 to 2017
• Armand Cogombles: joined in 2020, responsible for sales
• Consultant oenologists on recent technical sheets: Edouard Massie (2022 rouge, Les Chênes de Bouscaut) and Thomas Duclos (2023 and 2024 blanc)

The vineyard covers 50 hectares in Cadaujac, south of Bordeaux. The 2022 Château Bouscaut rouge technical sheet gives the soils as clay-limestone and gravel over limestone, and the white wine sheets give clay on a limestone base. The heart of the Sémillon for Château Bouscaut blanc is an ungrafted parcel more than 100 years old. Average vine age is 35 years for the grand vin red on its 2022 sheet and 25 years for Les Chênes de Bouscaut on its sheets. Replanting, soil cultivation, higher trellising, better treatment and production equipment, and pneumatic presses have all been put to work to improve the quality of the wines. The estate was certified organic (agriculture biologique) in 2024 after a three-year transition.

• 50 hectares of vines
• Clay-limestone and gravel over limestone
• Sémillon core from an ungrafted parcel more than 100 years old
• Certified organic in 2024

A circular vat room designed by the architect Vincent Defos du Rau was built in 1990. In 2002 Sophie Lurton and Laurent Cogombles installed ten 100-hectolitre concrete vats to improve plot-by-plot selection. In 2010 they commissioned Arnaud Boulain of Agence BPM to restructure the facilities and build a new 300-square-metre barrel cellar for the red wines, its exterior walls clad in barrel staves. The labels of Château Bouscaut rouge and blanc now draw on a 19th-century label.

• 1990: circular vat room by Vincent Defos du Rau
• 2002: ten 100-hectolitre concrete vats for plot-by-plot selection
• 2010: 300-square-metre barrel cellar for the reds

Château Bouscaut rouge is made from Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and Petit Verdot, with classic vinification in small stainless steel and concrete vats followed by 12 months in oak barrels. The 2022 is 55% Merlot, 35% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Malbec, aged 14 months in oak barrels, 40% new, at 14% alcohol. Château Bouscaut blanc is built on Sémillon, with Sauvignon Blanc as a counterpoint, and the white wines are vinified and aged in oak barrels. The 2023 is 59% Sauvignon Blanc and 41% Sémillon, aged 10 months in 400-litre oak barrels. The 2024 is 80% Sauvignon Blanc and 20% Sémillon, vinified in 30% new oak barrels with lees stirring and aged 10 months, with a production of 20,500 bottles from a 10-hectare production area. The second wine, Les Chênes de Bouscaut, takes its name from the estate's centuries-old oaks. Its red is vinified and aged like the grand vin, with 12 months in oak casks; the 2020 is 69% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon and 6% Malbec. Its white comes from the same varieties as the grand vin and is vinified in barrels with regular lees stirring; the 2022 is 57% Sémillon and 43% Sauvignon Blanc.

• Château Bouscaut rouge: Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and Petit Verdot
• Château Bouscaut blanc: Sémillon and Sauvignon Blanc, vinified and aged in oak barrels
• Les Chênes de Bouscaut rouge: second wine, 12 months in oak casks
• Les Chênes de Bouscaut blanc: second wine, barrel-vinified with regular lees stirring

On its English-language home page the estate writes: 'Here the wines reflect a great terroir of clay on limestone.' It calls its red original in its composition and faithful to its terroir, and credits Sauvignon Blanc in the white with bringing freshness, drive and structure as a counterpoint to Sémillon.

• Red: presented by the estate as original in its composition and faithful to its terroir
• White: Sémillon at the core, Sauvignon Blanc for freshness, drive and structure

The INAO published the first official list of Graves classified growths in 1953, and the list's only change came in 1959. All of the classified growths lie within the Pessac-Léognan appellation, and estates can be classified for their red wines, their dry white wines or both. Of the 14 châteaux now on the list, 5 are classified for their red wines, 2 for their whites and 7 for both. Château Bouscaut is classified for both its red and its white wines.

• First Graves list published by the INAO in 1953; one change in 1959
• 14 classified châteaux, all in Pessac-Léognan
• Château Bouscaut is classified for red and white

Primary sources (producer's own site): https://www.chateau-bouscaut.com/uk, https://www.chateau-bouscaut.com/uk/history-p-9, https://www.chateau-bouscaut.com/uk/chateau-bouscaut-red-p-18, https://www.chateau-bouscaut.com/uk/chateau-bouscaut-white-p-41, https://www.chateau-bouscaut.com/uk/les-chenes-de-bouscaut-red-p-20, https://www.chateau-bouscaut.com/uk/les-chenes-de-bouscaut-white-p-51, https://www.chateau-bouscaut.com/uk/wine-tourism-p-12, the estate's technical sheets (PDF): https://www.chateau-bouscaut.com/upload/files/1739370133.pdf, https://www.chateau-bouscaut.com/upload/files/1784202773.pdf, https://www.chateau-bouscaut.com/upload/files/1739369998.pdf, https://www.chateau-bouscaut.com/upload/files/1739373539.pdf, https://www.chateau-bouscaut.com/upload/files/1739370543.pdf, and its 2026 wine tourism brochure (PDF): https://www.chateau-bouscaut.com/upload/documents/1781708422.pdf. Secondary sources: Decanter (Decanter Staff, last updated 28 May 2015) and the Bordeaux Wine Council's Graves classification page (https://www.bordeaux.com/en/classifications/graves/). Last verified 2026-10-19. Where the producer's site and a secondary source disagree, the producer's site governs.