Château Larose-Trintaudon: The Desmons Era
By this time the leading properties in Saint-Laurent were well established, these being the three classed growths found here today, namely Château Belgrave, Château de Camensac and Château La Tour Carnet. The latter of these was in the possession of Charles Oscar de Luetkens (1801 – 1875), a distinguished agronomist who went by the name Oscar rather than Charles. The new owners at Trentaudon (there was still no château here at this time) were none other than Oscar de Luetkens in partnership with Eugene Charpentier. The estate covered 54 hectares, of which 24 hectares were planted to vines. The annual production remained surprisingly modest for the size of the vineyard, at just 24 tonneaux.
In 1880 Trintaudon-Larose as it was then known was sold to a British man named A. Desmons, subsequently listed as the proprietor in the 1883 Cocks et Féret. This was a time of dramatic development and success for the property. By the 1886 edition the property was listed as Château Larose-Trintaudon, and the authors report on the new château (pictured on previous page) and facilities including vat rooms and cellars, all “built according to the latest developments”. The wines were well received, having been awarded a silver medal at the Exposition Universelle in Bordeaux in 1882, and the same in Paris in 1889. The property quickly passed from the original buyer to the Héritiers Desmons, and by 1922 Hubert Desmons had come to the fore as proprietor. The area planted to vines also increased at this time, 35 hectares on a 65-hectare estate by 1886, 40 hectares on a 100-hectare estate by 1922.
