Château Gombaude-Guillot: The Bélivier Family
The story picks up in the late 18th century, with a man named Gratien Bélivier, who married Catherine Mauleon. Although they appear in ancient records, little is known of these two, other than the fact they resided in Pomerol between 1780 and 1805. I would suppose, however, that Catherine was of the Mauleon family, who took ownership of Château L’Église-Clinet after Martial Mauleon married Marie Rouchut on February 10th 1873. What we do know for sure thought is that Gratien and Catherine had two children, Catherine (born 1780) and Michel (born 1783).
Michel’s occupation was as a cultivateur, and it seems likely that at least some of the vineyards he tended are those we know today as Gombaude-Guillot. Sometime before 1812 he married Jeanne Jean, and they had five children, of whom the eldest, named Jean Bélivier and born in 1812, is of most relevance to this story. The others were Pierre (born 1814), Michel (born 1816), Marie (born 1822) and strangely another Pierre (born sometime between 1825 and 1827). Jean’s occupation was jardinier and propriétaire, surely indicating that he not only tended but now also owned his own vines.
