Château Larose Perganson: Edouard Ernest Lahens
Although from a Bordeaux family, Edouard Ernest Lahens (1811 – 1880) had been born in Guadeloupe, but after his marriage to Robertine Botreau-Roussel (1827 – 1911) in 1846 he returned to France, presumably having made his fortune. Clearly a man of some wealth he proceeded to also purchase land in the region, the most notable acquisition being that of this estate. At this point the Perganson forerunner was still the larger of the two Larose properties, its production four times that of Château Larose-Trintaudon. By the time the 1868 Cocks et Féret went to print Lahens had enlarged the Château Perganson estate even further, its annual production now up to a remarkable 130 to 150 tonneaux per annum, indicating it was by far the largest vineyard in the Saint-Laurent commune. This remained the state of play up to at least 1874.
It was Edouard Ernest Lahens who was responsible for building the ill-fated château, on completion a handsome residence, mostly a single-storey building but with a tall double-floored tower situated just over the entrance. It is first pictured in the 1883 Cocks et Féret, although by this time Edouard had died, and the proprietor was noted to be Mrs E.E. Lahens, in the 1886 edition the Veuve E.E. Lahens. At this time the estate boasted 217 hectares of land, of which 50 hectares were planted to vines on benevolent gravel soils. The remainder of the estate was dedicated to arable farming and woodland. The authors praised the wines of the property (although to be frank I don’t think I can ever recall seeing a word of criticism in any edition of Cocks et Féret, so this is perhaps not a noteworthy achievement).
