Chateau Beychevelle

Elegantly set on a ridge of Garonne gravel dating from the quaternary period - like all the terroir of the Saint-Julien appellation - the Château Beychevelle and its 250 hectares of gardens, forests and vines is situated at the south-eastern tip of the appellation, on the banks of the Gironde.

Built in 1565 by Bishop François de Foix-Candale, the Château has maintained a prestigious reputation and a history flirting with legend from the beginning. In the 17th century, it is said that the name of the Château dates back to the time when the first Duke of Epernon, Jean-Louis Nogaret de la Valette, demanded to see the sails of the boats sailing on the Garonne River in front of his estate lowered, i.e. "Bêcha vêla" in Gascon, "Baisse voile", Beychevelle. The emblem of the ship with a griffin's head and whose sails are lowered would date from this period. A second legend has it that a few years later, when the second Duke of Epernon was the new owner, Jean-Baptiste Poquelin's troop, Molière, was housed at the estate. In 1757, the building was rebuilt by the Marquis Etienne-François de Brassier, who endowed the Château with a port in order to export his wines directly to England. In 1825, it was the turn of Pierre-François Guestier, mayor of Saint-Julien and Bordeaux wine merchant, to take over Château Beychevelle and have it classified 4th Grand Cru in the 1855 classification.