Château Marquis d’Alesme
The origin of Château Marquis d’Alesme can be traced back to 1585, when the estate was created by François d’Alesme (1535 – 1612), a conseiller in the Bordeaux parliament. Viticulture quickly followed, and records indicate that by 1616, and perhaps before that, the wines of the estate were on the marketplace alongside others from the Médoc. Following the death of François d’Alesme the estate was transmitted through the family, from one generation to the next, although there are few details on exactly who was running it, and what they did to improve the domaine.
The next proprietor of whose identity we can be certain was Pierre-Vincent-de-Paul d’Alesme, a chevalier and Seigneur de l’Estreil, who was made a marquis by receipt of letters from Louis XVI (1754 – 1793), France’s last king before the Revolution. Pierre-Vincent-de-Paul married Marie-Thérèse d’Arche, from a similarly noble family, on March 30th 1772, and their estate then took on the name of Cru d’Arche d’Alesme. The estate seems to have developed a decent reputation, as it soon came to the attention of the courtier Labadie, as he drew up a report on the estates of the region for the Intendant Général of the Guyenne in 1776. He classified this estate as a fifth growth in the commune of Margaux, a judgement he made based on the wine’s sale price of up to 625 to 650 livres per tonneau.
