Château Giscours: Marc Promis
As the Revolution took hold, Claude-Anne de Rouvroy de Saint-Simon-Montbléru, a marquis and the seigneur of Giscours, quite sensibly fled to Spain rather than face prosecution and the guillotine. The property was thus confiscated as a bien national, and as was often the case it was sold at auction, which took place on July 3rd 1795. There then followed a string of new owners, beginning with Michael Jacob, who bid 70,600 livres for the privilege. Michael was a traiteur, essentially a restaurateur (indeed traiteur is the etymological origin of the word restaurant), but it seems that business was not quite as good as he thought. Jacob could not raise the necessary funds, and so he entered into an agreement with two Americans, John Gray and Jonathan Davis, from Boston. Together, the trio took possession.
The property next changed hands in 1825, when it was purchased by a local négociant, Marc Promis. This was a more typical picture for the post-Revolution era, when the increasingly wealthy merchant class began to take the place of nobility (who had either lost their heads, or were now so punitively taxed they could not compete) in the ownership, restoration and construction of Bordeaux’s grandest châteaux. It was Marc Promis who is credited with the construction of the château which still stands at Giscours today (pictured). This massive neoclassical edifice replaced the Medieval fortified keep which had stood here until this time, and it was graced with expansive cellars and stables. There was viticulture here, with 45 hectares of vines planted up, aided now by the construction of drainage channels to the west of the château.
Jean-Pierre Pescatore and Empress Eugénie
The property next changed hands in 1847, when it was purchased by Jean-Pierre Pescatore (1793 – 1855), a Parisian banker originally from Luxembourg. He was a fairly uninvolved proprietor, quickly entrusting the running of the property to Pierre Skawinski, and visiting just once each year, usually during the harvest. Legend has it that Jean-Pierre undertook a significant restoration of the château prior to a visit by Empress Eugénie (1826 – 1920), the wife of Napoleon III (1808 – 1873) when she was travelling to Biarritz. My opinion is that the tale is most likely apocryphal, although there is no doubt that Jean-Pierre was acquainted with the Emperor and his spouse.
