The winery is named after Bertrand Ducru, who purchased the estate in 1795 and the estate’s “beautiful stones” or Beaucaillou in French. The winery is pronounced “Due crew boo kai you”.
The Johnston family purchased the estate in 1866. In 1878, the winery created “Bordeaux Soup”, which was used to solve the mildew problem many Bordeaux wineries suffered from, which was then used by many other wineries. The winery was sold to the Desbarats family in 1929 and then sold to the Borie family in 1941, who still own the winery. They also own Grand Puy Lacoste. Bruno Borie has managed the winery since 2003.
The estate did have a TCA issue in the cellar between about 1986 to 1994 but the problem was resolved by about 1995 and all affected bottles were recorked.
The estate is around 75 hectares and planted with 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Merlot grapes. The wine is aged in oak for 18 months in 100% new oak barrels.
The quality of the wine has continued to increase over the years as they have increased the % of new oak barrels used and decreased the quantity of the wine produced from 20,000 cases in the 1990s to around 8,000 to 9,000 cases today.
1996 was a good year for Left Bank, Cabernet Sauvignon dominant wines.
For more information about this winery, please visit their website at