Château La Tour Figeac: The Corbière Era
The vineyards remained with Pierre Corbière and his descendants for several decades, and by 1908 the authors of Cocks et Féret described the estate in great detail. Now referred to as Château La Tour-Figeac, the property was noted to be in the possession of Emmanuel Boiteau-Corbière, Pierre’s son-in-law. There had been a huge expansion in production, which was by this time up to 70 tonneaux per annum. The property received a considerable amount of attention from the authors, who noted its proximity to other noteworthy estates; to the south lay the Chemin d’Aiguille and Château Figeac, to the east the road running from Pomerol to St Emilion, and Château Cheval Blanc of course, while to the north and west lay the commune of Pomerol.
Examining the vineyard, it was noted to be the highest point between Château Figeac and Château Cheval Blanc, known as Les Montilles. The name of the estate, however, was derived from an old tower that stood here, built during the 18th century. The soils were inspected, and seen to be rich in gravel, with clay, ferrous minerals and red sand. There were 19 hectares to the property, 2 hectares taken up by grassland, a pond and a stream, while 17 hectares were planted to ungrafted vines, vieilles vignes françaises as they were called at the time. Three-quarters were said to be Bouschet (better known today as Cabernet Franc), a huge proportion, while the remaining one-quarter was a mix of Merlot and Malbec. The wines were said to have the perfume of violets, to be very fine, full and capable of aging in bottle for a long time, the credit for much of which was laid at the feet of Pierre Corbière, proclaimed as one of the most distinguished viticulteurs of the Gironde.
