A brief history
Three hundred years later, under the aegis of chevalier Pierre Desmezures de Rauzan, the flourishing wine history of the vineyard arose. Bringing his expertise and know-how acquired at Château Latour, he created a prestigious vineyard: Domaine de Rauzan. With his perfect mastery of the terroirs, he played a significant role in establishing his vineyard’s reputation. Soon after, a severe hailstorm destroyed the vineyards across the Margaux region, singularly sparing the vines of chevalier de Rauzan. Thus, a rumour began circulating that birds had protected the clusters with their wings over the Gassies locality. Even today, all the wine labels of the Château display a winged coat of arms in memory of this enchantment.
In 1763, Domaine de Rauzan was divided into two parts for inheritance reasons. It was then that Château Rauzan-Gassies emerged and signed its first wines. Considered as the prime of the Second Growths in the Margaux and Cantenac parishes, the Château was elevated to Second Growth (Deuxième Grand Cru) in the imperial classification of 1855.
Seduced by its noble terroir, Mr Paul Quié, a renowned wine enthusiast and Paris wine merchant, became its proprietor in 1946. Upon his death in 1968, his son, Jean-Michel, took command of the wine estate. Château Rauzan-Gassies then underwent a vast renovation programme, including the modernisation of the vinification building and complete replanting of the vineyard. In those days, the wine estate’s teams were already outlining the modern vineyards of today. The grape variety selection and the parcelling out of the land progressively allow the contemporary identity of the great wine to be chiselled out.
