Château Fombrauge: The 20th Century

The property remained with the Canolle family again for nearly two decades, before it was purchased in 1898 by Marie Amélie Eugénie Azevedo (1849 – 1933), the wife of Maurice de Romeuf (1838 – 1912). Before long their son Guy de Romeuf (1869 – 1919) took over the running of the estate, and in the 1908 Cocks et Féret the authors noted that the Baron de Romeuf had increased production to an impressive 80 tonneaux per annum. Sadly this was the calm before the storm, because in the ensuing years the vineyards were ravaged by phylloxera, and were only reconstituted during 1910 and 1911 with the assistance of Albert Pavie-Macquin, of Château Pavie-Macquin, who through his skill at grafting provided vines for the replanting of a significant part of St Emilion.

Not quite a decade later the estate was acquired by Lieutenant-Colonel P. Galy-Aché, who bought it in 1919, the estate having been placed on the market most probably as a result of the death of Guy de Romeuf that year. At this time the vineyard, as described in the 1922 Cocks et Féret, accounted for 18 hectares. This military man’s tenure was not a very lengthy one though, as in 1936 he sold the estate to Alain Bygodt. He was a successful businessman who set about expanding the vineyard to 50 hectares, as well as modernising the facilities. He subsequently died in 1973, bequeathing the estate to his son Charles Bygodt.

Subscribe Here / Lost Password