Langlois-Chateau
The origins of Langlois-Chateau lie in the union of the 23 year-old Edouard Langlois with a young 19 year-old woman from the Vendée – that’s Muscadet country – named Jeanne Chateau. Although he had been born to a rural family in 1873, Edouard worked as a vigneron and cellarman in St-Hilaire-St-Florent, just downstream of Saumur and today practicably a suburb of that town. It was here that the newlyweds founded their new winemaking business in 1912, aided by Baron de Bodman who owned Château de St-Florent and a number of local vineyards and cellars, the latter being essential as Langlois-Chateau was to focus on the production of sparkling wine above all other styles. Tragically, as Europe was torn apart by the Great War which erupted in 1914, so too was the union of Langlois and Chateau. At 42 years of age Edouard Langlois was killed, just three years after starting up his new venture. In a story that somewhat mirrors that of Nicole-Barbe Clicquot, it was down to the young widow to take on the running of the estate, here assisted by her son Alexis and son-in-law Maurice Leroux.
The family built up a successful business during their tenure, but in 1973 valuable aid came in the shape of Bollinger who acquired a controlling stake in the business, thus bringing expertise, distribution services, contacts and of course the potential for investment. Aided by Maurice’s son Jean Leroux, the business was run by Michel Villedey of the Bollinger family. Unsurprisingly it was rapidly developed, and the portfolio expanded to take in many of the appellations of the Loire, although it is fair to say that the house is still most readily associated with the sparkling wines of the region. Today Villedey remains in control, assisted by production manager François-Régis de Fougeroux in the cellars, and he has at his disposal an impressive facility at St-Hilaire-St-Florent, which in recent years has seen considerable expansion and is now a bustling winery with extensive cellars and an attractive tasting room.
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