History of Gourgazaud

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1870

Once a year during the 1870s, great-grandfather Ernest Piquet caught a train from Bonnières, a small town in Normandy, and headed for la Livinière in the Languedoc region. In that beautiful region, in the burning sunshine, he was sure to find a wine of sustained and excellent quality, to the taste of Norman day-workers.

 

1919

Ernest gave over in 1919 his business of « Vins et Spiritueux en Gros » to Marcel his only son, which continued the tradition.

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1925

It was in this house that Roger Piquet, Marcel's son, was born on November 6, 1925. The years passed and lorries replaced horsepower. After the Second World War, Roger joined his father in the business.

 

1953

He decided to develop the wine trading activities of the company, and set up the Bonnièroise Vinicole Chantovent. Within a few years, it became a leader in the market for wines from the Midi region, and took on an international dimension. Roger established close links with growers in the South of France, and implemented quality guidelines in a wine region which had previously had such a poor reputation.

 

1973

Encouraged by wine producers in the region, Roger moved to the Minervois and became owner of the 67 hectares of the Château de Gourgazaud.

At the foot of the Montagne Noire, facing the Pyrenees, the vineyards of Château de Gourgazaud encircle the vast Amphitheatre of the Minervois. His aim was to make this an experimental estate, symbolic of the renaissance of the region's winemaking. Within a period of ten years, Roger Piquet replaced all the vines on his estate and increases its size, which now covers 100 hectares. He was the first to plant Syrah and Mourverdre grapes in the region, varieties which now provide the foundations of his production. He was also one of the instigators of the entirely new and sole appellation in the Languedoc region, the "Cru Minervois la Livinière". The strict application of low pruning, the thinning of green grapes and small yields have all contributed over the years to ensuring the current success of the fine and characteristic wines from Château de Gourgazaud.

 

From 2005 to nowadays

Just as 2005 got under way, Roger Piquet departed this world, safe in the knowledge that the quality of future harvests would be secure thanks to the quality of his land and workforce. His daughters Chantale Piquet and Annick Tiburce grand-daugthers of Ernest Piquet have assumed his mantle and continue to produce outstanding wine in the finest tradition.

So it is, that far from the glittering world of passing fashion, new grandes cuvées have emerged such as Quintus, an exceptional red wine, and the Vigne de Ma Mère, a lovely Viognier, grown on the adjoining black shale hills.