Château La Marzelle: The 20th Century
The property was eventually sold, as many estates were after the devastation of phylloxera, and it was thus acquired by Madeleine Fèvre (born 1891), the wife of François Gorphe (1889 – 1959), honorary president of the Cour d’Appel de Poitiers. In the post-phylloxera era there were several vignerons using the names La Marzelle and Figeac (at least flicking through Cocks et Féret it is not difficult to find more than one or two) and this led to a series of court cases as the proprietors of various estates, most notably André Villepigue of Château Figeac, fought to prevent others from using this name. As an example, one court case at this time led to the renaming of a neighbouring estate, up until this time known as Château Lamarzelle Figeac as the rather more complicated Château Grand Barrail Lamarzelle Figeac. This property still exists today, towering above Château La Marzelle, and it functions as a vineyard and luxury hotel, one which I have driven past many times (although my bank manager has ‘suggested’ to me that I don’t stay there).
Château La Marzelle, meanwhile, remained in the hands of wife of Madeleine Gorphe at least until 1949; her name appeared in the 1922 Cocks et Féret, and she came in for some praise from the authors (which sounds very grand, but the authors of these guides had a tendency to praise any vigneron with a pulse). The estate at this time was turning out 30 tonneaux per annum. She subsequently sold it to Edmond Carrère, who hailed from Monbazillac. It was under his tenure that the estate was ranked as grand cru classé in the 1955 classification of St Emilion. The following year he also purchased the aforementioned Château Grand-Barrail-Lamarzelle-Figeac, subsequently running the two estates as one. While this might have made immediate financial sense it may ultimately have been to the detriment of Château La Marzelle, as in the 1969 reclassification the estate was demoted, disappearing from the ranks of the grand cru classé châteaux, for a while at least.
