Château Ripeau
The story of Château Ripeau begins with the break up of the Corbin seigneurie, the history of which I have already told in as much detail as I can in my profile of Château Corbin. With the Revolution the seigneurie’s lands were confiscated as a bien national, a national asset confiscated from the nobility and the church for redistribution among the citizens of France. The estate was sold at auction to Jean-Mathias Auguste Chaperon (1753 – 1825), a négociant from Libourne. The Chaperon family was a very wealthy one, and Auguste (as he was known) purchased a large number of properties sold off as bien nationaux. In the Corbin secteur he built up a ‘super-domaine’, comprising 42 hectares of vines, land which would eventually give rise to what we know today as Château Corbin, Château La Dominique, Château Jean Faure and Château Ripeau, all of which can be found on the Belleyme map of the region, which dates to the late-18th century.
Of these estates both Château Corbin and Château Jean Faure both remained in the hands of the Chaperon family, having been passed from Auguste to a nephew, Jean Chaperon-Grangère (1773 – 1832), a négociant who was also mayor of Libourne. Tracing the path taken by Château Ripeau at this time has proven rather more challenging, but it seems the estate was now taken on by the Pailhas family. Victorin Pailhas (1803 – 1880) was later listed as the proprietor in the 1868 edition of Cocks et Féret.
