Château La Lagune: Jean Jacques Adrien Piston d’Eaubonne
It was thus under the tenure of Eugène and then Jean Jacques Adrien that the estate was ranked as a troisième cru in the 1855 classification of the Médoc. Reflecting on their efforts, Alfred Danflou wrote of Monsieur Piston d’Eaubonne (it’s not really clear which one, but it was probably the younger) in Les Grands Crus Bordelais (Librairie Goudin, 1867), commenting that he had “overlooked nothing in his quest to improve the vineyard and to perfect the process of vinification”. Indeed, Danflou went so far to say that, in light of the dramatic improvements here, and across the Médoc as a whole, it would not be long before Château La Lagune would be elevated at least one notch up in classification. “Very soon”, he stated with confidence, “Château La Lagune will be proclaimed a deuxième cru: the tasting of its wines leaves us in no doubt in this regard”. A desire to see the estate elevated in rank seems to pervade the La Lagune story.
Jean Jacques Adrien and Elise Marie produced enough offspring for a full football team, including a couple of substitutions, nevertheless none from the Piston d’Eaubonne tribe seem to have been given the opportunity to prove themselves as vignerons. Jean-Jacques remained at the helm for several decades, before ultimately selling the estate. We can trace his tenure through the latter years of the 19th century, when his efforts seem to come in for consistent praise from the commentators of the time.
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