Couly-Dutheil: Baptiste Dutheil & Marie Couly
The origins of Couly-Dutheil could be said to lie in Corrèze, a very rural region of France which lies just east of Périgueux and Bergerac. During the late-19th and early-20th centuries many folks left the region in search of work, and this exodus tended to head west to Libourne, where they took up jobs in the wine trade. A number of notable Pomerol bloodlines, including the Moueix and Berrouet families, originated in Corrèze. Not everybody headed west though. Some, such as Jean Moueix, headed for Paris, although he still managed to find his way to Bordeaux in the end. Others headed north to the Loire Valley, a case in point being Pierre Manzagol, who purchased Domaine de la Noblaie. Another was a young man by the name of Baptiste Dutheil (born 1880).
Baptiste Dutheil was not the first from his family to head for Chinon. His grandparents had done the same, and it was when his parents were visiting them in 1880 that Baptiste was born. Thus Baptiste was a Chinonais, although he was raised in Corrèze. It was not until 1921, when he was 41 years old, that Baptiste returned to settle in the town of his birth. His grandparents had never worked in wine, but before long Baptiste had established himself as a wine merchant. In the words of Arnaud Couly, “he sold wine from door to door”.
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