Saint-Julien Second Growth with 82 hectares, a grand vin, and Sarget de Gruaud Larose as its second label.
The producer
Château Gruaud Larose is a Saint-Julien château founded in 1725 and classified as a Second Growth in the 1855 Bordeaux Wine Classification. Four families have led it across its history. Jacques Merlaut bought the estate through the Taillan Group in 1997. Its vineyard covers 82 hectares in a single block, with vines averaging 40 years old. Organic conversion began in 2019 and certification arrived with the 2022 vintage.
Known for
Saint-Julien Second Growth Bordeaux
Notable facts
Founded in 1725.
Classified as a Second Growth in the 1855 Bordeaux Wine Classification.
The estate comprises 82 hectares in a single vineyard block.
Organic conversion began in 2019, with certification achieved with the 2022 vintage.
Pesticides and insecticides have not been used since the 1990s.
The story
The Divided Estate
When Jean Cordier bought the Faure half of the estate in 1917, the original Gruaud vineyard had been divided for the better part of a century. Two separate properties — Gruaud Larose Sarget and Gruaud Larose Faure — had competed in merchant catalogues under near-identical names, both tracing their descent from the same land on the Saint-Julien plateau, the division originating in a disputed family inheritance in the 1800s. Cordier tracked the Sarget half for seventeen years before it came available and purchased it in 1934, reuniting the full 82-hectare block on the plateau for the first time in close to a hundred years. When the estate introduced a second wine in 1979, the name chosen was Sarget de Gruaud Larose — carrying the name of the long-divided half onto every label produced from that point forward.
The 1778 Name Change
In 1778, Joseph Sebastian de La Rose acquired the magistrate's portion of the property and renamed it Gruaud Larose, joining it with the section held by the Gruaud family. The estate had been founded in 1725, before this second family name entered its history. The new name followed a change in ownership and brought the two family sections under one name. Later, the château passed through the Balguerie and Sarget families, the Cordier family and the Merlaut family. The 1778 transaction placed Gruaud and La Rose together in the name of one estate.
From the atlas
Château Gruaud Larose
A Bordeaux château in Saint-Julien, with a 1855 Second Growth classification, a grand vin and a second label.
At A Glance
Field
Detail
Classification
Second Growth in the 1855 Bordeaux Wine Classification
Appellation
Saint-Julien in Bordeaux's Médoc region
Vineyard
82 hectares in a single vineyard block
Range
Château Gruaud Larose grand vin and Sarget de Gruaud Larose second label
Farming
Organic conversion began in 2019, with certification achieved with the 2022 vintage
The Producer
Four families have led Château Gruaud Larose across its history: the Gruaud and Larose families, the Balguerie and Sarget families, the Cordier family, and the Merlaut family. The estate was founded in 1725. In 1997, Jacques Merlaut bought it through the Taillan Group.
The château also maintains four beehives and 4.4 km of hedges, with 3,500 plants from 27 species. These features sit within the estate's biodynamic farming practices.
Place
Saint-Julien is the appellation in Bordeaux's Médoc region where Château Gruaud Larose is located. The château sits on the highest point of the Saint-Julien plateau, 18 metres above sea level. Gravel extends down over 5 metres in some places.
Wines
The range has a grand vin and a second label. Château Gruaud Larose is the grand vin, with approximately 300,000 bottles produced annually. Sarget de Gruaud Larose is the second label, with 190,000 bottles.
Sarget 2014 is a red Saint-Julien wine. Its aromas are ripe black fruit, cassis, strawberry and very ripe plum, alongside spice, flowers, grilled notes and mocha.
Final Word
Vinification uses a combination of 30 oak vats ranging from 55 to 115 hectoliters and 32 concrete vats. The wines age in an average of 85% new French oak barrels for approximately 18 months.