RESURRECTION OF THE MONBAZILLAC VINEYARD

HENRI ALARD RESURRECTION OF THE MONBAZILLAC VINEYARD

Throughout the southwest region, wine production increased too quickly. In this context, the Bordeaux winegrowers organised a petition, collecting 10,500 signatures, to delimit the territory of the Bordeaux appellation to the Gironde department alone. The wines of Bergerac, for a long time sold under the generic name Bordeaux, entered into conflict and led negotiations to keep this appellation. Despite the tenacity of Alfred and the other Bergerac owners, the wines of Bergerac had to create an image overnight in a difficult context.

Libourne’s wine merchants, traditional cellars, sold the “Bordeaux” label wines first, then tried to find other markets for the rest of their range of wines.

In addition to the major crisis of the loss of the Bordeaux appellation, there was the 1914-1918 war, when the Château was confronted with labour shortages (the men were at the front) and material shortages (cork, sulphur, copper, glass, wood, barrels and bottles were consigned), as well as a total disorganisation of transport.

It was in the context of the inter-war period that Henri Alard (born in 1886) joined forces with seven other winegrowers from the Bergerac region to found the Monbazillac cooperative cellar in 1940. The aim was to pool production costs, create a renowned quality and build the reputation of this new protected designation of origin wine (decreed in 1936). In 1960, the cooperative bought the Château de Monbazillac to make it the «showcase» of this vineyard.