Visiting a Bordeaux vineyard: five things to see at Giscours

Surrounded by vines, a huge park and winemaking buildings, this neoclassical palace immediately draws visitors’ attention. Château Giscours is devoted to winemaking and a particular way of life. Throughout the year, visitors, professionals, connoisseurs and enthusiasts from all over the world come here to meet and to explore the estate’s wines. It is also somewhere that celebrates local gastronomy via the La Table de Giscours experience: a private meal where Giscours wines are paired with the cuisine created by chef Benjamin Laurent.

Giscours has 160 hectares of vines, including 100 in the Margaux appellation and 60 in the Haut-Médoc appellation. The Giscours terroir, made up of deep Garonne gravel, is split across three large hilltops that give Giscours wines their strength and complexity. The vines immediately surrounding the chateau fall under the Margaux appellation. Visitors can stroll among them and watch nature do its work as the seasons pass. If you walk alongside the park, you will find the Casino vineyard plot, the oldest vines in which were planted a hundred years ago.

An iconic Giscours building and key feature of the Bordeaux wine region, Suzanne Farm is a spectacular structure. Built in 1877, this farm was used for the estate’s winegrowing activities. It also provided accommodation for some employees. Now, it is brimming with life! Every year, Suzanne Farm hosts seminars, private parties, weddings and professional events of all kinds. Some employees still live there.

Carefully tended all year round by Ahmed, a Giscours winegrower, with the help of head chef Benjamin, the Giscours vegetable garden is a magical place. Heirloom tomatoes, squash, aubergines, red fruit, edible flowers – the entire garden is designed to supply the kitchens of La Table de Giscours and the employee canteen. We like short supply channels at Giscours!

Hidden behind Château Giscours, a huge park offers visitors endless walking options. All year round, ramblers can enjoy magnificent vistas of a lake surrounded by greenery. Here, exceptional flora and fauna live side by side. Some of the species that can be seen are rare or endangered, making this park a certified Natura 2000 site. An 800-metre route guides walkers around the lake to take this all in. The Giscours chef also allows gourmets to settle down for a gastronomic picnic accompanied by a glass of wine. A natural interlude a stone’s throw from Bordeaux!

These five unmissable spots are just some of the wealth of options that Giscours has to offer! For example, did you know that the estate has a cricket field? Various sporting competitions are still held there.
Visiting Giscours is not just a trip to a Bordeaux vineyard. It means discovering an ecosystem that was built in harmony with nature, on the site of a Grand Cru Classé under the Margaux appellation.