Château Fonbadet: The 20th Century
As the end of the 19th century drew nearer it seems that the Veuve Chancel (Cora de Gères) was also deceased, as writing in Les Vins de Médoc (Féret et Fils, 1897) Edouard Féret notes that the estate, referred to as Château Gères-Fonbadet and still turning out a very respectable 65 hectares, was now in the joint ownership of the Clark [sic] and de Larose families. It seems to me that this inheritance can be best explained if a daughter born to Cora de Gères had married into the de Larose family, best associated with Château Gruaud-Larose and Château Larose-Trintaudon of course, although it is also possible that the family bought into the estate.
At the time the vineyard was hit hard by phylloxera, the production described above only maintained by major work in the vineyard, with new plantings in 1885 and 1898. This must have taken its toll on the proprietors, as they soon sold up. By the time the 1901 Cocks et Féret was published the estate was in the hands of Bernard Coudert (born 1877), and it came in for some considerable praise. There were 30 hectares of vineyard planted up, as well as a château with a park described by the author as “magnificent”. Situated next to Château Mouton-d’Armailhacq (as it was then called) and Château Pontet-Canet, the vines sat on a high undulating plateau of gravel, and the wines were said to be of a “superior quality”. There also appears to have been a concerted post-phylloxera recovery, as production was now up to 100 tonneaux per annum.
