Château d'Issan

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Château d'Issan is one of the famous wineries of Bordeaux . Since the classification of 1855 , the winery has been classified as Troisieme Grand Cru Classé , the third highest level of the classifications.

It is located in the municipality of Margaux , southeast of the famous Château Margaux . The estate is owned by the old Cruse family of wine merchants and is located on an island in the middle of moats.

The estate is of medium size with around 53 hectares of vineyards. 70% of the area is planted with Cabernet Sauvignon , 30% with Merlot . In the middle years the estate produces around 60,000–70,000 bottles of Grand Vin wine . Among the younger vintages, the wine from 2006 stood out with 94 Parker points . Since the mid-1990s, d'Issan's wines have seen a significant qualitative upswing. An ancient wine from d'Issan, the 1900s, enjoys a cultic veneration among Bordeaux connoisseurs. It is said to be one of the very best wines ever made in Bordeaux.

The second wine from Château d'Issan is called Blason d'Issan . 70,000 bottles of this wine are filled annually. Château d'Issan is accompanied and advised by the oenologist Jacques Boissenot and his son Eric.

Of the 53 hectares of vineyards, 22 hectares were not allowed to be used for the production of the Grand Vin or the second wine. Wines of the Haut-Médoc appellation are marketed under the name Château de Candale (approx. 72,000 bottles per year) . Since 1988, the vineyards declared as Bordeaux supérieur have been processed into Moulin d'Issan wine (also around 72,000 bottles a year). In October 2007, 10 hectares of the Haut-Médoc area were finally assigned to the Margaux appellation. As a result, the amount of Château de Candale will decrease drastically and the amount of second wine produced will increase accordingly.

history

Since the 14th century at the latest, the demarcation of today's land has been known as Teoban; but it is reported that at the wedding of Henry Plantaget and Eleanor of Aquitaine in 1152 wines from Teobon were served. From the 15th century, the former Château Teobon was one of the fortified buildings along the Gironde that were built during the Anglo-French conflict. The building was only abandoned by the English soldiers in 1453. Noalhan is the first family known by name to manage the land as seigneurs of La Motte de Ludon and Cantenac. Later the land rights passed to the Meyrac family. From Thomas de Meyrac (died 1464) the inheritance went to his son Jean de Meyrac and in 1507 to Isabeau de Meyrac. Isabeau married Giron de Ségur in 1475. The estate consequently passed into the possession of the de Ségur family, who in the meantime owned the Lafite , Latour and briefly Mouton wineries . With the marriage of Isabeau's granddaughter, Catherine de Ségur de Théobon, with Hélie de Salignac in 1510 (other sources speak of 1527), the estate passed to the de Salignac family. The succession went to Mademoiselle La Ferrière at the beginning of the 17th century and to Marguerite de Lalanne around forty years later. Marguerite married Sarran François d'Essenault. Pierre d'Essenault later tore down the existing manor building and built the château that still exists today. The name Issan originated from a corruption of the name Essenault. Château d'Issan remained in the possession of the d'Essenault family until 1760 before it passed to the two cousins ​​Bernard de Candale de Foix and Joseph de Castelnau d'Essenault. By paying the sum of 15,000 livres in 1775, Joseph de Castelnau took over the land from de Candale, but left him the manor building, which was henceforth known as the Château de Candale. Documents from this period prove the good reputation of the wines. In a letter dated May 24, 1787, Thomas Jefferson certifies the wines the rank of "troisième crus".

In 1825 Justin Duluc acquired the entire winery, i.e. the vineyards and the estate, for 250,000 francs. The Duluc family already owned Château Branaire-Ducru . In his work Ampélographie universelle ou Traité des cépages les plus estimés , published in 1845, Comte A. Odart reported on a wine called Rubis fondu d'Issan, which was made from the now almost extinct grape variety Mancin . Duluc increased the quality of the wines and sold the estate to Blanchy a good 25 years later for 350,000 francs. Under his leadership, the estate was officially declared a Troisième Grand Cru in 1855.

In 1866, the Parisian-based businessman Gustave Roy bought the winery from the trading house Roy frères et Berger. Shortly before, he had already taken over Château Brane-Cantenac . Roy, who made his fortune in the textile business, invested a lot in quality, had a new wine cellar built and concentrated on the Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot grape varieties when planting new ones. Shortly after the phylloxera disaster and powdery mildew , he continued his efforts and worked with the rootstock Riparia.

In 1914, however, Roy had to part with Château d'Issan. For the next 31 years, the Grange estate belonged to a hapless owner. The aftermath of vine diseases and the two world wars took their toll. During the Second World War the manor building was occupied by the German Wehrmacht. When Emmanuel Cruse bought the winery in 1945, only 2 hectares of vineyards were under yield.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Clive Coates: The wines of Bordeaux, page 158.
  2. ^ Memoir, Correspondence, and Miscellanies, from the Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Gutenberg Project

    “Of Red wines, there are four vineyards of the first quality; viz. 1. Chateau Margau, belonging to the Marquis d'Agincourt, who makes about one hundred and fifty tons, of one thousand bottles each. He has engaged to Jernon, a merchant. 2. La Tour de Ségur, en Saint Lambert, belonging to Monsieur Miresmenil, who makes one hundred and twenty-five tons. 3. Hautbrion, belonging to two thirds to M. le Comte de Femelle, who has engaged to Barton, a merchant: the other third to the Comte de Toulouse, at Toulouse. The whole is seventy-five tons. 4. Chateau de la Fite, belonging to the President Pichard, at Bordeaux, who makes one hundred and seventy-five tons. The wines of the three first, are not in perfection till four years old: those of de la Fite, being somewhat lighter, are good at three years; that is, the crop of 1786 is good in the spring of 1789. These growths, of the year 1783, sell now at two thousand livres the ton; those of 1784, on account of the superior quality of that vintage, sell at twenty-four hundred livres; those of 1785, at eighteen hundred livres; those of 1786, at eighteen hundred livres, though they had sold at first for only fifteen hundred livres. Red wines of the second quality, are Rozan, Dabbadie or Lionville, la Rose, Qui-rouen, Durfort; in all eight hundred tons, which sell at one thousand livres, new. The third class, are Galons, Mouton, Gassie, Arboete, Pontette, de Ferme, Candale; in all two thousand tons, at eight or nine hundred livres. After these, they are reckoned common wines, and sell from five hundred livres, down to one hundred and twenty livres, the ton. All red wines decline after a certain age, losing color, flavor, and body. Those of Bordeaux begin to decline at about seven years old. "

    - Thomas Jefferson
  3. ↑ Ampélographie universelle ou Traité des cépages les plus estimés, page 100. Odart calls the grape variety Mancin Tarney Coulant.