By 1981, Lagrange was at its lowest point in its 600-year history. Situated adjacent to second-growth Château Gruaud-Larose, several large parcels of the vineyard had been sold off one by one, and less than a third of Lagrange's 388 acres were still under vine, mostly in poor condition and planted to 50 percent cabernet sauvignon and 50 percent merlot, an ungainly division. The buildings and château were in serious disrepair after years of neglect and a devastating fire in 1970. The winemaking facilities were almost useless. Indeed, not a single cask from the cooperage was deemed worth reusing.

If this were a racehorse with a broken leg instead of a wine estate fallen on hard times, a compassionate observer would have dispatched it with a gunshot to end its misery.

Yet, tasting the recent vintages of Château Lagrange, one finds stunning, well-made wines of breed, distinction and finesse. Within a comparatively short period of time, this estate has made tremendous strides, taking it light years away from its nadir. The story behind the revival of Château Lagrange evokes images of the legendary phoenix rising in the freshness of youth from the ashes of its funeral pyre. Like the mythical bird, the estate has received a new lease on life.

Today, Château Lagrange is once again entitled to the third-growth rating originally bestowed on the estate in the Official Classification of 1855, when it was considered one of the most technologically advanced and efficiently run properties in Bordeaux. The forces behind the transformation are an interesting mix of money, determination and talent.

From 1925 until 1983, Château Lagrange was the property of the Cendoya family. Manuel Cendoya, a vineyard owner from Spain's Basque region, purchased the estate in 1925 from a consortium of wine shippers, which had owned Lagrange only since 1918. From the outset, Cendoya was beset with difficulties. The wine trade was in a slump following the phylloxera and mildew crises that had plagued Bordeaux vineyards since 1876, and the dismal economic picture was exacerbated by the repercussions of World War I. Intermittent poor vintages (1925, 1927, 1930-32, 1935-39) forced Cendoya to declassify his crop and sell off a significant portion under secondary labels. Gradually, the outermost vineyard parcels were sold, one by one, as financial considerations dictated. The Depression and World War II also exacted a terrible toll. Additional parcels were sold off in the 1970s, reducing the estate from the 690 acres of its heyday in the 1840s to less than 388 acres of vineyard and non-vineyard land. By 1981, the Cendoya family was looking for a buyer, and Suntory Limited, the Japanese wine and spirits conglomerate, was in the market for a piece of Bordeaux real estate.

The potential of Château Lagrange was brought home to Suntory by two prominent consultants retained by the company, Michel Delon, owner of the second-growth Saint-Julien estate of Château Léoville-Las-Cases, and the renowned Professor of Enology Émile Peynaud, both of whom had an intimate knowledge of the area. Peynaud particularly admired the soil of Lagrange's vineyard – composed of deep beds of the best Günzian gravel – and its excellent natural drainage enhanced by numerous streams and ditches, as well as the pipes laid in the 19th Century.

On the strength of its consultants' recommendations, Suntory initiated negotiations with the French government, which is wary of foreign ownership of wine estates. In 1983, after two years of talks, during which Suntory pledged to spend at least $4 million to renovate the property in such a way as to respect local traditions, the sale was approved at a purchase price of $10.8 million.

The consultants recommended to Suntory that Marcel Ducasse, a brilliant former pupil of Professor Peynaud, be hired to oversee the renovation. Although Peynaud himself stayed on at Lagrange as a consultant in the renovation process until his retirement in 1990, the lion's share of credit must go to Ducasse for the monumental task of restoring the vineyards and the estate and developing an elegant, vital new style for its wines.

Suntory provided a generous budget for the project and spared no expense in enabling Ducasse to carry out his vision. To date, more than $40 million has been spent on refur-bishing the vineyards, winery, cellars, the château itself, offices and surrounding grounds.

Fixing the vineyard was Ducasse's most urgent priority. More than 100,000 new vines were planted in the existing 138 acres, and an additional 190 acres of vineyard were added, bringing the total to 328 acres and making Lagrange the largest cru classé in the Médoc. Vine density was increased from about 3,000 vines to more than 3,400 per acre, helping control berry size and concentrate flavor. In the course of replanting, the proportion of grape varieties was adjusted, so that the current composition is 66 percent cabernet sauvignon, 27 percent merlot and 7 percent petit verdot. With so many vines planted between 1983 and 1988, Château Lagrange is only now hitting its stride and will probably not attain its maximum potential for a few more years.

Ducasse is particularly fond of petit verdot. Planted in the Lagrange vineyard beginning in 1988, he first used it in the cuvée with the 1990 vintage. "Petit verdot adds vitality and structure to the blend with its deep color and firm tannins," he explains, "but it requires low yields to be useful. If it isn't good, it's terrible in the blend – green and weedy." Asked why he didn't include the other traditional Bordeaux varietals in the vineyard, Ducasse insists that cabernet franc in the Médoc "gives a hollow wine lacking concentration," and dismisses Médoc-grown malbec as "cabbage."

As both directeur général and winemaker, Ducasse has enormous responsibilities, yet allows few details to escape his attention. He oversees each vintage and is the principal decisionmaker in composing the cuvée for the grand vin. Harvesting is done entirely by hand with individual bunch selection to ensure ripeness. The bunches are sorted according to grape variety, age of vines and vineyard parcel to give Ducasse as much control as possible in composing the blend.

Following local practice, in 1985 Lagrange introduced a second label called Les Fiefs de Lagrange composed of selected lots of wines from the younger vines. According to Ducasse, the principal difference between the two labels is that Les Fiefs is made from vines less than 15 years old, whereas the grand vin comes from vines 18 to 40 years old. "Also, Les Fiefs usually has more cabernet sauvignon in the blend than does Lagrange," Ducasse says, further pointing out that the Lagrange is aged for 18 months in 55 percent new oak, whereas Les Fiefs sees twelve months in barrel, 10 to 20 percent of which are new. "Only 5 percent press wine goes into Lagrange," Ducasse adds, "whereas up to 12 percent can go into Les Fiefs." Although Les Fiefs sells for about half the price of Lagrange, Suntory has allowed Ducasse to be brutal in his selection for the second label. In 1995, about 62 percent of the estate's production of 60,000 cases was sold as the less expensive Les Fiefs, with the balance bottled as Lagrange.

A key factor in the revival of Château Lagrange is the new winery built from the ground up in time for the 1985 harvest. Fifty-six temperature-controlled stainless steel vats were installed to permit meticulous sorting of the fruit according to variety, vine age and vineyard parcel, and individual fermentation of these lots. Although the equipment is technologically advanced, the winery is dominated by massive, 19th-Century timbers, and the hopper is decorated with beautiful Briaire mosaics in keeping with the traditional character of the estate.

Finally, no restoration of a Bordeaux property could be complete without paying special attention to the château itself, which at Lagrange has been magnificently restored and surrounded by lush gardens boasting a serene lake teeming with fish and waterfowl. The elegant, Louis XVI-style building dates from the late 1700s and is dominated by a handsome bell tower, whose bell bears the date 1771.

The château is the personal property of Suntory Chairman Keizo Saji and includes only a few concessions to Japanese ownership – a traditional teppan-yaki (grill room) and a Japanese dining room. While Lagrange has yet to turn a profit for Suntory, the company, and particularly Saji, obviously take a long-term view of the estate and have sufficiently deep pockets to support it. Indeed, it seems most fortunate that Château Lagrange finally has an owner with the vision, patience and wherewithal to assure its vitality into the next century and beyond.

Given the profound turnaround in just 13 years, the superb vineyard and the wealth of talent behind the transformation, there is no reason to doubt that the wines of Château Lagrange will continue to evolve and improve in the years to come. Even at this point, for the first time in a century, one can understand Lagrange's classification as a third growth in 1855 and speculate how long it might be before that modest rating will have to be reassessed.

Tasting Château Lagrange

Last July, a 15-year vertical tasting of Château Lagrange was held in the spectacular setting of Fleur de Lys restaurant in San Francisco, followed by a lunch of truffle vichyssoise, potato-crusted sea bass and roasted Colorado lamb loin prepared by Executive Chef Hubert Keller.

The wines spanned the vintages of 1970 and 1981 (before Marcel Ducasse took charge) and 1984 through 1994, with barrel samples from 1995 and 1996.

To my palate, the most impressive wines began to appear with the 1994 vintage, although the bottlings from 1989 and 1990 clearly evidence the excellence of those vintages. My notes follow:

1970 – Nose of celery root; lean, austere palate with little fruit. Disappointing.

1981 – Pleasant cassis nose; medium tannins; shy, mature fruit with good acidity. A lighter style.

1984 – Shy, oaky nose showing some herbaceousness. Cassis fruit displays some depth with toasty oak in evidence; medium-full tannins. This was Ducasse's first year at Lagrange, and Michel Delon of Château Léoville-Las-Cases consulted in the winemaking. Ducasse noted that the cabernet sauvignon (CS) came in a bit under-ripe. (82% cabernet sauvignon (CS/18% merlot)

1985 – Shy cherry-berry scents. Vibrant black cherry-cassis fruit on the palate with a note of dried herbs; medium tannins; quite tasty. (57% CS/43% merlot)

1986 – Very pleasant aromas of smoky, toasty oak and ripe cassis. Big on the palate with medium-full tannins and generous black fruits; still has time ahead of it. (57% CS/43% merlot)

1987 – A poor year accounts for this vegetative, harsh wine with little fruit; not much any winemaker could do. (56% CS/44% merlot)

1988 – Shy nose of black fruits, spice and green olive. An elegant, balanced, classic-style claret with medium tannins. (59% CS/41% merlot)

1989 – Wonderfully fragrant scents of cassis, green olive and toasty oak. Rich and supple in the mouth with generous, ripe fruit. A big, delicious, magnificent wine that resembles a California Cab. (55% CS/45% merlot)

1990 – Appealing scents of black cherry-cassis fruit, moderately toasty oak and anise. Smooth and rich with lots of delicious ripe black fruits. Significant change in the cuvée, with petit verdot (PV) added to the blend for the first time. (44% CS/44% merlot/12% PV)

1991 – Shy nose of black cherry and cassis. Quite tasty, offering vibrant cassis and good acidity; medium tannins. (45% CS/45% merlot/10% PV)

1992 – Shy, slightly herbaceous nose. Nicely extracted flavors, medium tannins with a hint of alcoholic hotness in the finish. (50% CS/35% merlot/15% PV)

1993 – $29: Evident herbaceousness and a meaty note in the aromas. Medium-full tannins balance rich, concentrated, vibrant berry fruit; hint of green olive. Smooth, creamy texture; tannic finish typical of Saint-Julien. (49% CS/38% merlot/13% PV)

1994 – $29: Moderately fruity nose of cassis and cherry with oaky accents. Angular as might be expected for the vintage, yet still showing a fair amount of ripe fruit. Powerful, tannic finish argues for many years of cellaring. (60% CS/31% merlot/9% PV)

1995 – $29: Very pleasant, appealing nose of ripe cassis, blackberry and black cherry enhanced by vanillin oak and a hint of dark chocolate. Generous, round and mouth-filling, offering layers of flavors and textures, with the high percentage of merlot quite evident. Extremely attractive with excellent aging potential. (44% CS/43% merlot/13% PV)

1996 – $NA: Forward nose of red fruits, spice and toasty oak. Full-bodied and fleshy on the palate with lots of ripe fruit, chewy tannins and good mouth-feel. Excellent aging potential. (68% CS/28% merlot/4% PV)

Editor's Note: A similar Château Lagrange tasting will be presented on April 17 in Coral Gables, Florida, as part of The Biltmore International Wine Festival. Call 800.727.1926, ext 1998 for more information.

Contributing Editor Steve Pitcher is a freelance wine writer whose "Vintner's Choice" column appears regularly on the Internet in "Sally's Place" (www.bpe.com). Based in San Francisco, he is vice president of the Vintners Club and president of the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the German Wine Society.