Château Bélair-Monange: The Modern Era
By the time the 1908 Cocks et Féret was published the property was referred to as Château Bel-Air-Marignan, ancien cru de Canolle, clearly referencing prior owners. At this time it was in the joint possession of the three daughters of the late Baron Théophile; these three sisters were Thérèse (1847 – 1921) who married Louis de Guéringaud, Marguerite (1849 – 1934) who married Marquis Victor de Galard Terraube and Lucie (born 1853) who married Baron Paul de Montel.
By this time the estate was already recovering from phylloxera, the vine disease which according to Cocks et Féret had “ravaged” the vineyard. In the 1922 edition the author reports that part of the vineyard had been replanted with French (i.e. ungrafted) vines, and was being regularly treated with chemicals, while another part had been reconstituted using grafted vines. Despite these troubles the estate seems to have picked up several accolades, including gold medals in the Exposition Universelle in 1899, and a diploma in Paris in 1900.
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