Château Boyd-Cantenac: The Brown Division
It seems evident that with time the property came entirely under the control of the Skinner family. David and Magaret had at least four children, Jean Jacques (1766 – 1832) being the eldest, followed by Thomas (born 1771), Elisabeth (1773 – 1854) and Margaret (born 1776). Of these we might have expected Jean Jacques Skinner to take the reins, but it appears that he was not interested. Instead the property came to the Brown family, who had been working with the Skinners for some time. Their significance in the story of the estate was perhaps cemented in place when John Lewis Brown (1769 – 1851), a merchant, ship owner and négociant, married Elisabeth Skinner, the granddaughter of Jacques Boyd. Although at first working in partnership, the settling of debts during the course of 1806 meant that Château Boyd-Cantenac came into the possession of the Brown family.
Despite what seems like some acrimonious dealings between members of the three families involved, the wines of Château Boyd-Cantenac seem to have been well received at this time. The estate saw a number of successes, including an impressive ranking in a number of classifications. By 1800 the estate had been ranked as a quatrième cru classé of the Médoc, as subsequently described by André Simon in Bottlescrew Days (Duckworth, 1926). This was perhaps a disappointment though, bearing in mind the prior ranking as a troisième cru classé in 1776.
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