Château Pichon Comtesse: The Miailhe Era
The Miailhe family started out as brokers and négociants, having arrived in Bordeaux in the 18th century. In the early 20th century, however, they branched out to purchase properties of their own, starting with Château Coufran in 1924. Subsequently they acquired Château Siran, Château Verdignan, Château Citran (subsequently sold on to the Merlaut-Villars family) and Château Soudars. There is no doubt in my mind, however, that the coup de grâce for Louis (1892 – 1982) and Édouard Miailhe (1898 – 1959) was the acquisition of Château Pichon Comtesse, of which they acquired 55%, the remaining 45% being held by other members of the consortium.
Following the death of Édouard Miailhe in 1959 this rather grand collection of properties was distributed amongst the Miailhe descendants. Thus in 1960 the Miailhe portion of Pichon Comtesse came to William-Alain Miailhe (born 1931), the son of Édouard Miailhe and Victoria Desbarats de Burke (1902 – 1999), and he took on the direction of the estate. His main contribution was an expansion of the vineyard, from the 40 hectares Édouard Miailhe had left behind, to more than 50 hectares. He resigned in 1972 following what can only be described as irreconcilable differences with some of the minor shareholders controlling the other 45%, some of whom wanted to sell.
After his departure, from 1975 to 1978 the estate was managed by Michel Delon (died 2000) of Château Léoville-Las-Cases. He added another 5 hectares to the vineyard, so that it grew to 62 hectares. It was only in 1978 that control of the estate passed to Édouard Miailhe’s youngest daughter, May-Eliane.
