Château Larcis Ducasse

In 1867 the proprietor of the estate, Pierre Ducasse, produced 15 to 20 tonneaux (900-liter wooden barrels) of his cru Larcis. In 1893 Henri Raba, a descendant of a Bordeaux family of ship builders and wine merchants, bought Château Larcis Ducasse; he invested in keeping the vineyard in terraces and in a gravity-fed cellar, and in 1898 the Cocks and Féret guide noted that he had recently built a large winemaking cellar with a wine press that rolled along rails on the second floor. That gravity cellar has never ceased to be used. After Henri Raba (d. 1925), his wife Emilie and then his son André took over. In 1941 Hélène Gratiot-Alphandéry, a psychologist and director of studies at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes in Paris, inherited the property; she took over its management after the liberation of France, with vineyard manager Pharaon Roche. Roche ran the estate until 1978 and oversaw the move to bottling the entire production at the château in 1972. In 1990 her son, Jacques-Olivier Gratiot, who had been Director of Development and Creativity at L'Oréal, succeeded her, working with vineyard manager Philippe Dubois, who ran the estate until 2002. In 2002 the family entrusted the management of the château to Nicolas Thienpont, who was joined by oenologist David Suire. The estate still belongs to the descendants of the Raba family: Jeanne Attmane and her brother Jacques-Olivier Gratiot are co-managers of the estate and are passing it on to their children, including Amel Attmane and Ariane Gratiot.

• 1867: Pierre Ducasse, the proprietor, produced 15 to 20 tonneaux of his cru Larcis.
• 1893: bought by Henri Raba; by 1898 the estate had a new gravity-fed winemaking cellar, still in use.
• 1941: inherited by Hélène Gratiot-Alphandéry; 1990: her son Jacques-Olivier Gratiot succeeded her.
• 2002: management entrusted to Nicolas Thienpont, joined by oenologist David Suire.
• Today: owned by the Gratiot-Attmane family, with Jeanne Attmane and Jacques-Olivier Gratiot as co-managers.

Nicolas Thienpont managed the estate from 2002, with David Suire as oenologist and technical director, and the technical sheets through the 2023 vintage name Thienpont as manager. The management of the estate has since been entrusted to David Suire, succeeding Nicolas Thienpont, and the 2024 technical sheet names Suire as winemaker. Julien Lavenu, consultant oenologist with Derenoncourt Consultants, has advised the team since 2002; as of 2019, Stéphane Derenoncourt was also a consultant. Quentin Debayle joined the team in January 2022 as Assistant Technical Manager. Jeanne Attmane and Jacques-Olivier Gratiot are co-managers on behalf of the owning family.

• Manager: Nicolas Thienpont from 2002; David Suire has since succeeded him, and the 2024 technical sheet names Suire as winemaker.
• Consultant oenologist: Julien Lavenu (Derenoncourt Consultants), since 2002.
• Assistant Technical Manager: Quentin Debayle, since January 2022.
• Family co-managers: Jeanne Attmane and Jacques-Olivier Gratiot.

Larcis Ducasse is a hillside vineyard a short distance from the village of Saint-Émilion, at the heart of the Grande Côte on the Côte Pavie. The 2024 technical sheet gives a total area of 11.34 hectares, 10.50 of them in production, planted at 6,000 vines per hectare with replanting at 8,888 vines per hectare and an average vine age of 38 years. The vineyard is directly south-facing, and its plots form a natural staircase of terraces. Its terroirs split into 10% limestone-clay plateau on asteriated limestone, 55% south-facing terraces of very shallow loamy clay soils on asteriated limestone, and 35% limestone-clay colluvial soils on the hillsides. On the limestone plateau, Les Salins, the rock is topped with a thin layer of brown clay. The Grande Côte is a long south-facing slope with inclines of up to 25%; its upper slopes are on the Molasses du Fronsadais, a soft sedimentary rock of clay and limestone. At the foot of the slope the incline is gentler, from 2 to 5%, with varying proportions of clay and calcareous sand. Natural springs originate beneath the limestone in the blue clay, and several underground water sources help make the estate's soils among the cooler soils of Saint-Émilion. Merlot is the main variety, and Cabernet Franc is planted on sandy clay soils with a considerable degree of limestone.

• 11.34 ha total, 10.50 ha in production (2024 technical sheet); average vine age 38 years.
• Planting density 6,000 vines/ha, with replanting at 8,888 vines/ha.
• Three terroirs: the limestone plateau (Les Salins), the Grande Côte slopes (up to 25% incline), and the foot of the slope (2 to 5%).
• Natural springs and underground water sources keep the soils among the cooler soils of Saint-Émilion.

In 2002 the new team commissioned a detailed study of the estate's terroirs and renovated the vineyard and cellars. Straight away that year they added drainage channels and pulled up the Cabernet Sauvignon, which had always had trouble ripening in these cool soils, replacing it with massal-selection Cabernet Franc; Cabernet Sauvignon had typically made up about 5 percent of the blend. They moved the Cabernet Franc off the plateau and replaced it with Merlot, as part of a 40-year replanting plan, and lengthened the harvest to a number of weeks rather than two or three days. In the vineyard, the estate uses light ploughing, spontaneous natural growth or inter-row planting, and a continual programme of grubbing up, complantation and replanting, with manual de-budding, leaf-thinning and green harvesting; the harvest is 100% by hand. In the cellar each lot is vinified and barrel-aged separately. As of 2012 the wine had always been fermented in cement vats; until 1982 it was aged in foudres before the switch to barrels. For the 2023 vintage, vatting lasted 25 to 28 days and the wine was aged for 16 to 18 months in barrels, 50% new and 50% one year old. Some lots are aged in 500-liter barrels with a light toast. The second wine, Murmure de Larcis Ducasse, has been made in small quantities since 2010; since that year the grapes from the lower slopes have gone into it.

• 2002: terroir study, drainage channels, Cabernet Sauvignon pulled up and replaced with massal-selection Cabernet Franc, and a 40-year replanting plan.
• 100% hand harvest; light ploughing, spontaneous growth or inter-row planting.
• Lot-by-lot vinification and barrel ageing; as of 2012, always fermented in cement vats.
• 2023 grand vin: 25 to 28 days' vatting, 16 to 18 months in barrels (50% new).
• Second wine Murmure de Larcis Ducasse since 2010.

Château Larcis Ducasse was promoted to Premier Grand Cru Classé B in the 2012 Saint-Émilion classification, after belonging to the same family since 1893. On 8 September 2022 the INAO's national committee approved the new classification of the Saint-Émilion Grand Cru appellation, with 14 premiers grands crus classés, two of them with the distinction A, and 71 grands crus classés. Larcis Ducasse is on the 2022 list of premiers grands crus classés, without the distinction A, which went to Château Figeac and Château Pavie. The classification has existed since 1955 and is revised every ten years.

• 2012: promoted to Premier Grand Cru Classé B.
• 2022: one of 14 premiers grands crus classés; the distinction A went to Château Figeac and Château Pavie.
• The Saint-Émilion classification dates from 1955 and is revised every ten years.

David Suire, quoted on the estate's site, puts the site's character this way: 'Dryness and humidity coexist here, with a permanent contrast between the bright south-facing slopes characterised by sunny flavours and aromas and the enduring freshness of the clay-limestone, from which the vines draw their energy.' The estate describes its young wines as showing notes of strawberry, cherry, blackberry and black currant with a chalky, spicy and floral character, and its older wines as moving from truffles to forest floor by way of violet, tobacco or soft oriental spices. It groups its most emblematic vintages into four facets: rooty (1966, 1983, 2004, 2012, 2014, 2017, 2021), with oriental fragrances (1945, 1959, 1990, 2005, 2009, 2015, 2018), luminous (1967, 1971, 1989, 2010, 2016, 2020, 2022) and saline (1961, 1962, 1988, 2008, 2019, 2023). Recalling the start of his tenure, Nicolas Thienpont told Wine Spectator in 2012: 'When we started, the vineyard was a bit out of balance.'

Primary sources (producer's own site): https://www.larcis-ducasse.com/en/light-and-freshness/, https://www.larcis-ducasse.com/en/singular-diversity/, https://www.larcis-ducasse.com/en/the-quest-for-the-sublime/, https://www.larcis-ducasse.com/en/anchored/, https://www.larcis-ducasse.com/en/symbiosis/, https://www.larcis-ducasse.com/en/murmure/, https://www.larcis-ducasse.com/en/the-winegrowers-diary/, and the estate's technical sheets (PDF): https://www.larcis-ducasse.com/en/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Larcis-Ducasse-2023-EN.pdf, https://www.larcis-ducasse.com/en/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Larcis-Ducasse-2024-EN.pdf, https://www.larcis-ducasse.com/en/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Larcis-Ducasse-2022-EN.pdf, https://www.larcis-ducasse.com/en/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Larcis-Ducasse-2020-EN.pdf, https://www.larcis-ducasse.com/en/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Murmure-de-LD-2020-EN.pdf. Official source: INAO press release on the Saint-Émilion Grand Cru classification, 8 September 2022 (https://www.inao.gouv.fr/sites/default/files/2024-10/CP_Classement%20St%20Emilion_08%2009%202022.pdf). Secondary sources: Wine Spectator (James Molesworth, 26 December 2012) and Decanter (Jane Anson, last updated 17 October 2019). Last verified 2026-10-20. Where the producer's site and a secondary source disagree, the producer's site governs.