Château Rahoul
Château Rahoul has a past that can be traced back as far as 1646, but it was in 1962 that its future was written.
In 1962 an English immigrant to Australia, a onetime physical fitness instructor in the Royal Air Force, who had already tried his hand and failed at a variety of odd jobs, decided to have a stab at wine commentary. That year his inaugural wine column appeared in The Bulletin, a weekly periodical published in Sydney. It was the first step towards wine superstardom for Len Evans (1930 – 2006), who would with time assume figurehead status for the Australian wine industry. Seven years after putting pend to paper he founded Rothbury Estate in the Hunter Valley and opened a restaurant in Sydney named Bulletin Place. The latter became a hotbed of vinous innovation, frequented by all of Australia’s leading winemakers; when they dined there Len would serve them French classics, thereby subtly shaping the future of Australian wine.
During the 1970s Len went on to found the Evans Wine Company with his backer, the millionaire Peter Fox. Interested in expanding beyond Australia, they began to look for prestigious vineyards in Bordeaux to acquire. Top of their shopping list was Yquem (there is, I suppose, nothing like setting your sights high), but unsurprisingly Alexandre de Lur Saluces (1934 – 2023) was not willing to sell. Another two decades would pass before Alexandre was ousted by LVMH, after a piecemeal acquisition of a majority of the family’s shares in 1999.
Scouting around for other perhaps more realistic options, Peter Fox and another partner in the business, the Danish winemaker Peter Vinding-Diers (who was working at Château Loudenne) chanced upon Château Rahoul. Having already viewed the property once before the two Peters – Vinding-Diers and Fox – had returned for a second look. They had lunch on the estate and then Fox, an accomplished water polo player, went for a post-prandial swim in the pool. He obviously wasn’t concerned about the rule my mother adhered to which said you should not swim on a full stomach; forty years later I see this 1970s rule has been debunked as a myth. Quelle surprise.
Please log in to continue reading: