Tours de Laroque - Saint-Emilion Grand Cru 2017
Château Laroque: The revival of a storied terroir in Saint-Émilion
Château Laroque, one of the grand old estates of Saint-Émilion, boasts a lineage dating back to the 12th century. With its fortified tower standing watch over the landscape, the château exudes an enduring sense of history, a reminder of its medieval origins. Nestled on an exceptional limestone plateau, Laroque is blessed with a terroir of rare distinction, positioned at the heart of Saint-Émilion’s finest soils.
The estate’s golden age arrived in the 19th century, but was later shadowed by the hardships of phylloxera, the Great Depression, and two world wars, which left it dormant for decades. In 1935, the Beaumartin family took ownership, initiating Laroque’s slow and steady revival, though it wasn’t until the early 1960s that vines fully returned. This long rest period enriched the soil, an invaluable benefit in today’s vineyards: the 61 hectares now under vine—some reaching 50 years in age—draw their strength from naturally replenished soils. With Stanislas Droin and David Suire now at the helm, Laroque is flourishing once again.
Tours de Laroque: The essence of limestone in an elegant, approachable style
Tours de Laroque, the second wine of Château Laroque, is crafted from a selection of parcels across the estate’s 61 hectares. This wine embodies a polished, approachable expression of Laroque’s terroir, where limestone mingles with red clay soils. While it retains the hallmark limestone character that defines Laroque, this second wine is designed for earlier drinking, offering silken tannins and a vibrant, fruit-forward profile.