The Count of Villeneuve Bargemon is the one who had the château built in 1740 to offer it as a wedding gift to his daughter Anne, who was marrying one of the current owner’s ancestor, Count Jean-Baptiste Leclerc of Juigné – the Count of Lassigny.
Did you know that a segment of the award-winning film Lady Chatterley was shot in the Château’s ‘Juigné Bedroom’?
Quite the avant-gardist, the Count Edmé de Rohan-Chabot was the first to organise an exclusively female rally. Beautiful women and beautiful cars: it was called the ‘Paris-Saint Raphaël féminin’.
“Second bottle. A Saint-Martin. Dark colour, ruby highlights, hints of cocoa and liquorice.”
About the Château: “It’s the most beautiful of the three. A château that is more like an imposing, yet comfortable, family home than a fortress. Patina walls, Italian colours…”
“The hospitable warmth of the gigantic oak foliage, whose recently-opened leaves cast shadows of unmoving sparrows on the walls, on the blue iron tables, like little skies, outside, on the wooden benches, in the beds of white and yellow flowers.”
“It reminds me of the bubbling poetry from Colette’s garden, at La Treille Muscate on the Riviera, that inspired her to write: “Could I have reached here what one can never reach a second time?”
“A holy land.”
“La Grande Réserve, dark colour with ruby highlights, fruity nose – cherry and strawberry – , smooth tannins on the palate, a joyful wine that flows freely.”
“La Comtesse de Saint-Martin, a 2013 white, like a little poem.”
One day, the dog had rolled in the dirt and crossed paths with a visiting Chinese tourist who asked us where she could buy a dog of the same incredible breed that she had never seen before.
Gedda feels at home in Saint-Martin and so much the better because he whips up wonderful meals here!
At the French Consulate tasting, the “Comte de Rohan Chabot” vintage placed 4th among the 30 best red wines from around the world.
