Château L’Enclos: Military Trousers
The reason for renaming the estate L’Enclos remains rather mysterious. It seems widely acknowledged that at the time the sandy soils extending out from Moulinet were employed in the cultivation of hemp, which was them used in the manufacture of trousers for the French army. Among the fields there were reputedly one or two small vineyards, where vines were grown in order to produce wine for the locals, and some have speculated that if these had been walled vineyards it is only natural that the region might have become known for its clos or l’enclos. Cadastral maps from the era indicate the region was known as L’Enclos, and this seems to have been transmitted down to Larroucaud’s estate and wine. Whether or not this ‘walled vineyard’ origin is anything more than fantasy, however, remains uncertain.
What is known is that Pierre Larroucaud had married a local girl named Marie Cécile Lamoureux in 1883, the same year his uncle Jean had died, and the two went on to have three daughters. One does not seem to have survived and the other, Marguerite Marie Claire Larroucaud, inherited the estate. Thus Château L’Enclos came into the possession of her husband Jean Frédéric Carteau, and thereafter it again passed down the female line, to their daughter, who married a local propriétaire-cultivateur named Xavier Marc, whose family also owned Château la Grave à Pomerol. Under his direction, and with expert assistance, the estate flourished. The winemaker, a man named Zucchi, who also made the wine at Château La Conseillante, Château L’Évangile and Vieux Château Certan, and the maître de chai at Château Cheval Blanc, Gaston Vessière, also advised. The wine was exported, especially to the Netherlands, and it is widely reported that the wine was poured at the royal court there, including on the occasion of a state visit by Queen Elizabeth II in March 1958.
