Château Monbrison
The origins of Château Monbrison are lost, probably forever, vineyards having been first planted here long before the story of this estate takes shape. An early proprietor of these vineyards, which lie in Arsac, in the southwestern corner of the Margaux appellation, was Pierre Copmartin (died 1754), who purchased the property in 1749 from the noble Joseph de Ségur (1711 – 1790), Comte de Ségur-Cabanac. Copmartin was a prominent figure locally, holding the post of Conseiller du Roi, a public prosecutor, and he was active in Guyenne politics. He was not responsible for planting the vineyard though; it seems this was already established, the vines probably having gone into the ground during a wave of planting which swept through the Médoc during the early years 18th century.
The property then passed to François Pierre de Copmartin (died 1821), avocat général in the Bordeaux parliament, and mayor of Margaux, although he subsequently sold it a few years before his death in 1818 to Paul Georges Conquéré de Monbrison (1765 – 1846), who paid 75,000 livres for the pleasure. With the arrival of this family on the scene we do at least have an origin for the name of the estate, even though the property only passed through the hands of two Monbrison generations.
