Château Giscours

Third Growth Château Giscours is a Margaux estate on the rise. Its long history is peppered with successes and failures but the past two decades have seen it flourish. Giscours is first mentioned in 1330, but its fortunes changed significantly in 1847 when the estate was managed by Pierre Skawinski. He saw it through the all-important 1855 classification, invented a revolutionary way of moving everything in the winery by gravity - unheard of at the time although now adopted by almost all the top estates today, and revitalised the estate. His departure and the subsequent sale of Giscours marked a period of decline and neglect which was halted in 1954 when the Tari family took over and then Eric Albada Jelgersma in 1995. From 2000, Giscours has been going from strength to strength thanks to the impeccable management of Alexander van Beek. He has overseen significant vineyard replanting, including increasing the amount of Cabernet Sauvignon, switching to hand-harvesting and expanding the use of biodynamic farming methods. Today it is one of the largest estates in Margaux, with almost 90 hectares under vine.