Château Cantemerle: First Viticulture
The first evidence of viticulture at Château Cantemerle came in 1354, when the owner, now Ponset de Cantemerle, was recorded as paying a tithe, either to the church or perhaps to another nobleman, with a tonneau of clairet. Little else is known about the estate at this time though. The seigneurie seems to have been passed first to a son Gaillard de Cantemerle, then to the next generation Raymond de Cantemerle, but he died without issue, and so at this point the Cantemerle lineage seems to have come to an end.
At this time Aquitaine was part of England’s dominion of course, as it had been since the marriage of Henry II (1133 – 1189) to Aliénor d’Aquitaine (1122 – 1204) in 1152, and it would remain this way until the end of the Hundred Years’ War with the battle of Castillon in 1453. Thus it was in 1369 that the seigneurie of Cantemerle was given by Edward III of England (1312 – 1377) to Louis Chabot. What his tenure may have involved is unknown, but we do know that he was succeeded by Jean de Caupène who was named as seigneur in documents that date to 1422. This title was then inherited by Médard de Caupène, presumably his son; he went on to father a daughter named Jeanne de Caupène who married Henry de la Rocque on November 30th 1493.
Charles de la Rocque
Henry’s son Charles de la Roque was seigneur from January 1510 onwards, and was succeeded by Jehan de la Roque, again presumably a son, who held the title in May 1536. It was during this era that we have the next piece of evidence concerning viticulture on the domaine. It seems likely that wine was only one of a number of crops on the estate, as the Médoc produced more cereal and beet than wine at this time. Nevertheless, documents attest to the fact that in 1575 production was as high as twelve barrels per annum.
