Family
i

Over half a millennium in Pomerol

“The land gives us discipline, and we are an extension of our ancestors.”

La Terre et les Morts. Maurice Barrès. 10th of March 1899.

From generation
to generation

1477

1477, the description of the eleven tenements or maynes (concessions) granted in Pomerol by Antoine de Murat, Commander of the Hospitallers of St John of Jerusalem, can be considered as the founding act of Château La Croix de Gay, which has been closely linked to the same family since at least the 15th century.
The land of “la Barrauderie”, one of the five maynes on the high terrace of Pomerol, was granted as a fiefdom lease to Mathelin and Michel Barraud, ancestors, according to oral tradition, of the Raynaud-Lebreton family, the current owners.

This mayne was granted to them under the annual censive (royalty) of two and a half francs, a bushel of oats, a pair of gélines (hens) and a labourer with oxen. ‘Today, this is the richest part of the commune of Pomerol, and contains the most famous wines’. (Pétrus, Châteaux l’Evangile, la Conseillante, Gazin, Petit Village, Vieux Château Certan).

“This tenement was leased by two poor labourers in 1477 when it was almost deserted. and which they had great difficulty in developing, given the poor fertile soil, much of it gravelly, has lost its name, which perpetuated that of these courageous pioneers; It would even be unknown to us without documents from the archives. In stark contrast, it is now the richest part of the commune of Pomerol, the one that contains the most famous wines.”

Garde J. A. Société historique et archéologique de Libourne. History of Pomerol. Libourne: Imprimerie libournaise, 1946. p 58.

1772

10 of May 1772

One of the oldest records in the Pomerol parish registers shows Joseph Brugnet’s occupation as a winegrower at the birth of his daughter Marie, ancestor of the Raynaud-Lebreton family.

1900

Jean-Henri ANGLE

1900, at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, Jean-Henri Angle was in charge of the estate. Cooper and probably talented winemaker, his ledger help us to better understand his activity. He structured the estate and developed the Château La Croix de Gay brand. At the end of the 19th century, his firebrands used to stamp his production, illustrates the status of Premier Cru Haut-Pomerol of Château La Croix de Gay. Since that time he only agreed to sell his Château La Croix de Gay for a higher price than the 1855 Classified Growths of the Pauillac appellation.

Furthermore his work led him to vinify a number of neighbouring properties, including Châteaux Rouget, Gazin and Certan (at the time of the historic owners, the demoiselles de May de Certan), as well as the wine of Abbé Antoine Faure, the parish priest of Pomerol from 1861 to 1905.

20th century

Angle – Barraud – Ardurat
Raynaud – Lebreton

5 surnames over a century

The women’s château

Remaining in the same family but handed down by the women, the winemakers’ surnames change and cohabit on the label, but the expertise remains. Knowledge and work are passed down through the family.

Barthélemy Larroucaud (mayor of Pomerol from 1871 to 1874 and again from 1876 to 1883) continued to invest in local life and wine associations. Jean Marie Barraud was mayor from 1912 to 1919. In 1900, Jean Angle was a founder member of the Pomerol winegrowers’ union. Jean Marie Barraud, his son-in-law, was a founder member and first deputy secretary. In 1968 Noel Raynaud was a founder member of the Confrérie des Hospitaliers de Pomerol.

1947

Noel Raynaud’s first winemaking venture and a success across the Channel.

Harry Waugh, one of the most respected and influential members of the British wine trade, (re)discovered Pomerol and Château La Croix de Gay.

“We had fantastic success with the 1947s… in particular with the 1947 La-Croix-de-Gay, which I enjoyed opening for a long time alongside a Bordeaux celebrity, the 1947 Cheval-Blanc, which it beat every time… It was around this time that I converted Eddie Penning-Rowsell, the author of The Wines of Bordeaux, to Pomerol, and every year he opens one of his rare and precious bottles of La Croix de Gay 1947 (also bottled by Harveys!) and we rave about it together.” (HarryWaugh’s Wine Diary, Volume seven, Page 17, Christie Wine Production, 1976.

“If there is one strength in a family that guards an estate, it is that they are aware of the importance of what they are entrusted with and are willing to make the sacrifice, it’s that they are aware of the importance of what they are entrusted with and are willing to make sacrifices to maintain something that they consider to be more important than themselves,something a little bit bigger than themselves’

Aubert de Villaine co-manager of Domaine de la Romanée Conti, Thomas Bravo-Maza, ‘Quatre saisons à la Romanée Conti’, France Télévisions and Compagnie des phares et balises, 2011.

1977 to 1980

Four gold medals !

An exceptional series of four consecutive gold medals at the Concours Général Agricole in Paris for the 1977, 1978, 1979 and 1980 vintages.

After a bronze medal for the 1967 vintage and a silver medal for the 1973 vintage, Noel Raynaud’s Château La Croix de Gay won an exceptional series of four consecutive gold medals at the Concours Général Agricole de Paris for the 1977, 1978, 1979 and 1980 vintages.

1983

Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux

Château La Croix de Gay is admitted to the prestigious Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux.

1997

The women’s château vinified by a woman

1997: On the death of her father, Noel Raynaud (1923-1997), his daughter Chantal Raynaud-Lebreton, who had worked with him for more than 10 years, took over full responsibility for the estate under the watchful eye of her mother Geneviève Ardurat-Raynaud (1925-2010).

Future

Chantal Raynaud-Lebreton’s three sons, Jean-Pascal, Olivier and Julien, inherited a love of medicine from their father Michel Lebreton (two are doctors, one is a dental surgeon) and a taste for wine from their mother and grandparents (all have agricultural qualifications). Having spent their childhood and adolescence on the estate, it was their grandfather, Noël, who introduced them to the care of vines and wine.

Today, they passionately pass on their wine-making know-how and family history to their children, to perpetuate this unique relationship between a family and the great wines of Pomerol.

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