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The most patrician and numerous of the merchant families who occupied the Quai des Chartrons, playing an important part in the bordeaux trade in wine. They originated in Schleswig-Holstein before the Prussians took it from the Danes in 1864. Hermann Cruse, born in 1790, came to Bordeaux in 1819 and opened his office in the Chartrons. As Cruse & Hirschfield, the firm did considerable business with north Germany. The family's fortune was made in 1848 and 1849, when Cruse made a vast speculation on the 1847 vintage, described by the brokers Tastet & Lawton as `very abundant, exquisite but not big'. Since 1848 was the year of revolution in France when Louis-Philippe fled to England, and revolutions broke out in Germany, wine prices slumped. Cruse bought no fewer than 13,650 tonneaux from 130 crus, nearly all Medoc and particularly crus bourgeois for the German market.
In 1850 the firm was changed to Cruse et Fils Freres, and two years later Hermann Cruse bought Ch Laujac in the Bas-Medoc, still owned by the family. In 1865 he bought his biggest property, the first in a series of classed growth acquisitions, Ch Pontet-Canet in Pauillac. In the same year Edouard Cruse acquired Ch Giscours in Margaux, which they resold in 1913. In 1903 Frederic Cruse inherited Ch Rauzan-Segla in Margaux from his clergyman father-in-law, and this was sold in 1956. In 1945 Emmanuel Cruse purchased Ch d'Issan in a semi-derelict condition. It took many years to restore this fine, moated 17th century chateau and its cellars. Emmanuel Cruse was one of three brothers who ran the firm in the major part of the 20th century. They divided the world between them. Christian Cruse concentrated on Russia before the Revolution, and Britain, which he visited for 50 years after 1912. His son Edouard developed a considerable connection with St-Emilion and Pomerol, previously not greatly exported to Britain. After the beginning of the 1970s, wine prices in Bordeaux rose sharply and by 1973 had reached a point for generic red Bordeaux AC that made it impossible for merchants to fulfil their contracts without substantial loss. A disreputable broker persuaded Cruse, then chiefly run by the younger generation headed by Yvan and Lionel, son of Emmanuel, to buy table wine for resale as appellation controlee Bordeaux. No doubt other firms were involved, and certainly five were subsequently fined but their names were not published (a common practice in French wine fraud cases in order to avoid wholesale discredit to the wine region involved). Cruse was the most prominent merchant of Bordeaux at this time, however, and the authorities were refused entry to their premises in order to make a detailed inspection. Accordingly, a much-publicized trial took place in 1974. The broker was sent to prison, and the Cruses received a suspended sentence together with a huge fine, substantially reduced on appeal. The firm never recovered from this and in 1979 was sold to a big group. In 1975 Ch Pontet-Canet was bought by Guy Tesseron, Emmanuel Cruse's son-in-law and a cognac merchant who already owned Ch Lafon-Rochet. Ch d'Issan is still owned by the Cruse family and run by Lionel Cruse. The affair broadly coincided with the decline and sale, mostly to foreign concerns, of those houses that had formed the core of the Bordeaux trade, among whom the Cruses were for long the leaders. Bibliography - Faith, N., The Winemasters (2nd edn., London, 1999).
- Penning-Rowsell, E., The Wines of Bordeaux (6th edn., London, 1989).
References appellation controlee Bordeaux Bordeaux AC brokers classed growth cognac cru Margaux Medoc Pauillac Pomerol St-Emilion table wine tonneau
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