Château Clément-Pichon: Division and Decline
A few years later, by the time the 1886 edition was published, the vineyard of Château Clément-Pichon had grown to at least 70 hectares, and the production had climbed even further, to 150 tonneaux per annum. Such a huge increase can only represent purchase of vineyards or new planting, and indeed it appears to have been the latter. A new vineyard had been established on the palus, the flat alluvial ground close to the waters of the Garonne. Again the news is communicated by the authors of Cocks et Féret with breathless enthusiasm, although today we would recognise that the palus, with its rich and damp alluvial soils, is never a great place to plant vines. This explains why, if you take a look at a map of Bordeaux, there is almost always a band of agricultural land or marshland separating the vineyards from the waters of the Garonne, Dordogne or Gironde.
Clément Fayat
Subsequent to this the estate was divided, as detailed in Les Vins de Médoc (Édouard Féret, 1897), presumably upon the death of the proprietor. The property suddenly had three owners, Frédéric Cruse (1854 – 1933), Henriette Durand-Dassier (1862 – 1952) and Philippe Durand-Dassier (1868 – 1936) who, like the Baron de Pichon, was also mayor of Parempuyre in his time. Henriette and Philippe were the offspring of Monsieur E. Durand-Dassier, while Frédéric Cruse married his eldest child, Lucie Amélie Durand-Dassier (1858 – 1923). Each was producing 50 tonneaux from their section, so presumably they each acquired one-third of the original estate.
