The Estate

Nestled between the Atlantic Ocean and the Gironde estuary, the Médoc — “the land in between” — is home to the lands of Beaumont, which in the 18th century were nothing but heath and meadows belonging to the Duke of Duras, Marshal of France and member of the Académie Française.

Cleared from 1772, the estate became the property of Henri Labarthe, who drained the land and prepared it for vine cultivation. The Beaumont vineyard was born in 1824 under its new owner, Monsieur Bonnin.

From 1830 to 1847, the Maison de Beaumont belonged to the Marquis d’Aligre, one of the greatest fortunes in France, who tripled the size of the vineyard. In 1849, the estate passed into the hands of the Bonnin brothers, who in 1854 had the Château Beaumont built by the architect Henri Duphot in a Renaissance style known as “à la Mansart”.

In 1860, Count de Gennes — great-uncle of Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, Nobel Prize in Physics in 1991 — acquired the estate, which he later sold in 1872 to Jean-Victor Herran, minister of Honduras. The Parisian industrialist Joseph Germain succeeded him in 1890. Through his dedication, he raised Château Beaumont’s wines to the first rank of the Crus Bourgeois of the Médoc. He also built the vat house in 1894.

From 1925 to 1986 the estate was led by the Milanese company Della Grazia, then by Lieutenant-Colonel Ignacio Andrade, by former Venezuelan senator Dionisio Ramon Bolivar Carvajal, and finally by winegrower Bernard Soulas, who completely restored the vineyard and the château.

In 1986 the GMF group joined Japanese group Suntory to create Grands Millésimes de France, also owner of Château Beychevelle and of the Bordeaux merchant Barrière Frères.

Classified Cru Bourgeois since 1932, Château Beaumont has maintained its standing through the decades and today confirms its status as Cru Bourgeois Supérieur.

Since 2011, Grands Millésimes de France has been held equally by the Suntory and Castel Groups.