Château Lassègue: Viticulture
Although no mention was made of the estate in the first edition in 1850, the property appears in the 1868 Cocks et Féret, with an illustration of what was already a very attractive and well-established château. The vineyard was no less impressive, the authors describing it as sitting mid-slope, with a run of vines at the back heading up towards the plateau, amounting to 30 hectares of “admirably situated” vineyard.
The implication of this is that viticulture was already long-established on the domaine, although in truth it is difficult to know exactly when the first vine was planted, who might have been responsible for it, and who expanded the vineyard to this very admirable size. As I have already suggested it seems only logical to assume that the already documented Belliquet dynasty were at least partly responsible, although it may be that there were some vines planted here before even they took possession.
The property was classified as a deuxième cru, listed second behind Château de Ferrand, putting it second in the entire commune of St-Hippolyte as no estates here were ever classified as premier cru. With such an extensive vineyard production was running at a good level, with 40 to 60 tonneaux of wine (160 to 240 modern-day barriques) produced per annum.
And the wines came in for much praise, being in the view of the author “pleins de chaleur, de force, de sève, de bouquet, et ont-ils, par suite d une vinification soignée, un moelleux très agréable” which I translate as “full of warmth, power, sap and aroma, and they have, thanks to careful vinification, an attractive softness”.
