Château Figeac: The Modern Era
After changing hands many times, with multiple divisions and selling off several significant parts of the vineyard, the acquisition of Château Figeac by Henri de Chevremont and his daughter Henriette in 1892 promised to be the beginning of a much needed period of improvement for the estate, but it was not to be. Henriette married André Villepigue, a Parisian, and they became absentee landlords, the pair installing a local, Albert Macquin, as a manager. The château remained uninhabited save for their occasional visits to their country estate. It seems to be accepted that Albert Macquin had designs on the estate, but when it was clear that he would not be able to acquire it he left in 1905, and Henriette and André’s own son Robert Villepigue took over. Thus in the 1908 Cocks et Féret it was Robert, an agricultural engineer, who was described as the administrator. Of note it was also Robert who designed the very distinctive label for Château Figeac, that which is still in use today. For the first time the authors of Cocks et Féret provided some real detail on the estate, noting that it was 52 hectares in size, with 42 hectares of vines planted, and the annual production was up to an admirable 150 tonneaux.
André Villepigue died before his wife, who then continued to run the domaine. Following her death in 1942 it would seem logical that their son Robert would inherit all, but eventually in 1946 the domaine came, after four years of arguments in court, to Robert’s sister, Adda Elizabeth Villepigue.
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