The Château

A unique viticultural past

The Chateau de France was built on the foundations of an ancient manor house underneath which still remains its original arched cellars. The cellars and the house date to the end of the 17th century and were contructed by Philippe Decoud.

From feudal holding of Gardère to French heritage ?

The property has retained the name of the foundations on which it was built. It is likely that the lands surrounding the property belonged to the holding of Gardère. Prior to 1681, the property which today makes up the Chateau de France was a collection of small parcels of land whcih were joined to gether in the 16th century by Marceau Dubasque and Jean de Latreilles. This is in fact detailed in documents dating to 1648 in which it is stated that the said Marceau Dubasque bought these lands from André Dejean, barrel maker.

Taffard, Advisor to the Guyenne Parliament, developped the vineyards of Chateau de Francein the 18th century – just when the idea of the Grand Cru quality was beginning to take shape. The Pontacs, a family involved in politics in Haut-Brion, followed him in this task, accounting for the Chateau’s expension of territory in Graves to the south-west of Bordeaux in the 18th century.

Recognition in the 19th century

Jean-Henri Lacoste, a businessman involved in furniture industry, owned and managed the property for 32 years. It was he, in fact who created Chateau de France as it is today. Following its purchase in 1862, he spread the word about the 25 hectare property, as yet unknown as Chateau de France, amongst buyers of quality vintages including Feret, who included the property in his later works of the vineyards in Bordeaux. J.H. Lacoste also mentioned the property in his works, doing it a great deal of justice by including in it the surrounding properties of Noaillac belonging then to the Griffon family, and later to the Fieuzals and Haut Gardères !.

Restructuring Chateau de France

The 19th century also saw the property transformed as seemed to be the trend amongst the owners of manor houses and vineyards. With these extra efforts and refurbishments, several of the properties in the area began to be refered to as « Chateau ». Jean-Henri Lacoste affected a modest change to the Chateau de France, replacing its wings with independent pavillions and adding a second floor to the existing structure.

As with the majority of the Grand Cru « Chateaux » of Graves, the property remained slightly outside the traditionally recognised viticultural sector of Bordeaux. In the case of Chateau de France, this lasted from 1920 to 1975.