Clos L’Église: The Modern Era
By the time Jean Rouchut inherited his half of the Rouchut estate his wife Thérèze Laval had already died, this sad event having come to pass in 1867. Jean himself died on January 3rd 1882, and the property then passed to the next generation. Of the three offspring it has often been written that it was Thérèze who inherited the vineyard, but following the sequence of inheritance through to the 20th century this seems unlikely. The property must have come to the son, Pierre Rouchut (1847 – 1896), or some other undocumented male descendant, as the property remained a Rouchut possession right through to the middle of the 20th century.
This transmission through the Rouchut family is supported by evidence from the Bordeaux region’s wine bible, starting with the property’s inaugural appearance which comes in the 1893 edition of Cocks & Féret, when the proprietor was recorded as J. Rouchut. The authors make a few comments on the property, noting that it accounted for 5 hectares of the Pomerol vineyard, that it turned out 12 tonneaux of red wine per annum, that it was planted to well-chosen cultivars and that the wines were well sought-after. But despite diving into the genealogical records the exact identity of J. Rouchut remains a mystery to me (given that the various Jeans in the family tree have all passed away by this stage, and there is no son or daughter that seems to match).
By the time the 1898 Cocks et Féret is published it is Madame Veuve J. Rouchut who was listed as the proprietor, implying the estate has now passed to the owner’s widow. It is also noted that the family now own Château Plince. An English language edition published the following year tells us the same, but provides more detail on the vineyard, at this time planted to one-third each Merlot and Malbec, with the final third divided between the two Cabernets, over an area of 6 hectares. It is fascinating to see Merlot playing such a modest role, little more than a century ago. Under direction of the widow the property went on to receive a gold medal from the Comice Agricole de Libourne in 1897, and a note of merit along with another gold medal for its wines at the Exposition Maritime Universelle de Bordeaux in 1907.
