Château Margaux: Bertrand Douat
Bertrand Douat had little interest in wine and indeed in anything else related to Château Margaux, and he chose to continue living in Paris rather than Bordeaux. He was from the Basque Country, and arrived in France having already made his fortune; for him, ownership of such a grand property was intended to assist his social advancement. To that effect, the understated manor house which had been erected in place of the original fortified building that once stood here was deemed inadequate, and it was torn down and replaced with the grand château, as designed by the leading architect of the day, Louis Combes (1757 – 1818). This building (pictured on the first page of this profile) was Douat’s only major contribution to Château Margaux, and sadly it is one that he saw little of himself.
Work on the new château began in 1810, when Douat was already quite aged, and it was not completed until 1816, the year after he had died. After his death the property was managed by the extended Douat family, who chose to sell the harvest to local merchants on a subscription basis, each contract with the estate lasting ten harvests. This situation would not last indefinitely though, and in 1835 Château Margaux was sold. The buyer was Alexandre Marie Aguado (1784 – 1842), Marquis de las Marismas de Guadalquivir, and Vicomte de Monte Ricco, who although Spanish by birth had taken on French citizenship, and who worked as a banker in Paris.
