Wine Varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon; Cabernet Franc; Merlot; Petit Verdot

Wine region: The largest fine wine producing region in the world can roughly be split into two areas: Left Bank, taking in the Médoc and the Graves, and Right Bank. The largely gravel soils of the Left Bank are suited to the cultivation of Cabernet, whilst the cooler clay-dominated soils of the Right Bank are largely planted to Merlot. Bordeaux's connection with Britain came about when Henry Plantagenet married Eleanor of Aquitaine in the mid-12th century. The wines of Bordeaux were spared taxation and became the most widely consumed in Britain. This continued after the Hundred Years War when the French reassumed control of Gascony. Much of the wine at that time was from the Graves and the Right Bank, since the Médoc was a marshy area. The Médoc was drained by the Dutch in the mid-17th century and thereafter grape cultivation for the production of wine proliferated. The region is home to many of the most famous and expensive wines in the world. 

Wine Producer: The Landureau family fell in love with Château d'Escurac and purchased it in 1934. Escurac sits on one of the highest hillocks in the Médoc and has an interesting and varied history (there is an 11th century chapel on the site). Jean Landureau started a stud farm at Escurac, but it was his son that developed the vineyard (which in the early 19th century had been considered a fifth growth). It was his son - Jean-Marc - who decided to concentrate on the quality of the wine, the grapes having previously gone to the local co-operative. The estate is now run by Jean-Marc's daughter Anne and her mother.

 Featured in The Sunday Times, 21/02/2021 - "Another great find in the Médoc. Château d’Escurac came to prominence in the late 1990s and has a reputation for quite dense wines which this very much is. Earthy, savoury and dry I would decant this for an hour before enjoying its concentrated, smokey structure." Will Lyons