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The Winery History of the Obiang Estate

Chateau Obiang is the smallest among the “Big Five” in Bordeaux, but it is the first to become famous. On April 23, 1525, Jeanne de Bellon, the daughter of the mayor of Libourne, married Jean de Pontac, clerk of the court of the “Parliament” of the city of Bordeaux. A piece of land in Sac known as “Huat-Brion”, this day is used as the birth day of Chateau Obiang. In 1533, Jean de Pontec bought the Obiang mansion with surrounding outbuildings.

In 1549 he started building the château, which is now the northeastern part of the winery. A century later, High and Mighty Lord Arnaud III de Pontac took over the estate. He then became the first President of the Bordeaux City Council. In the era of Arnold III, the winery not only doubled in size, but was also known for its luxurious decoration. Carpet presented by the Queen Mother, ornate furniture, gold leaf decoration.

The first recorded wine under the name of Chateau Obiang was in 1660, when the King of England, Charles II, known as the Merry King, entertained guests with wine from Obiang. In 1666, François-Auguste, the son of Arnott III, opened a pub in London called “L’Enseigne de Pontac” (the head of Pontac), which at that time became the most fashionable pub in London to enjoy fine wine and food.

After Francois’s death, his nephew, Francois-Joseph de Fimmel, inherited two-thirds of the estate of the Château Obiang. Francois-Joseph achieved brilliant achievements in his life. He joined the army when he was young, and was promoted to marshal after repeated achievements. After returning to Bordeaux, it was even more prosperous, from the port governor to the governor of Gayenne.

In the end, Count Joseph de Fimmel, who was added to the official title, obtained all the property rights of the Obiang winery. He renovated the winery, decorated the grand entrance and built gardens in the classic 18th century style around the château, making the winery a place to entertain guests.

In 1787, Thomas Jefferson, the drafter of the American Declaration of Independence, then the ambassador to France, and later the third president of the United States, paid a special visit to Chateau Obiang during his visit to Bordeaux, and put Obiang. The winery is included in the list of four First Growths he evaluates.

In the eighteenth century, Obiang began bottling in the winery, improving the aging process of the wine and extending the aging time of the wine. During the French Revolution, Château Obiang underwent major changes, and the owner, Count Fimmel, was sentenced to death. His nephew moved away from France after he sold Chateau Haubion to Napoleon I’s foreign minister after receiving the repatriated property.

In 1836, Parisian banker Joseph-Eugene Larrieu bought Chateau Haubion at auction. The winery was bought back five years later, bringing the winery back to the size of the Francois era.

At this time, Obiang wine was exported to the United States in large quantities, and it was particularly popular in New Orleans, which was deeply influenced by French culture. In 1855, in the classification of Bordeaux, Château Obiang was classified as a first growth winery. Until 1922, the winery was owned by the Larreyou family. Then came a period of chaos.

When New York financier Clarence Dillon bought Chateau Obiang in Bordeaux in 1935, it was on the brink of dilapidation. For seven decades, the Dylan family has invested heavily in the winery. Clarence restored the castle, expanded the oak barrel wine cellar, and used stainless steel fermentation barrels for the first time in Bordeaux.

His son, C.Douglas Dillon, served as the US ambassador to France during the Eisenhower era, and after returning to the United States he served as deputy secretary of state and then Treasury secretary in the Kennedy administration.

Whether diplomats or government ministers, Douglas often entertained dignitaries from various countries with Obiang wine, pushing the winery’s reputation to new heights. In 1958, the Dillon family established Domaine Clarence Dillon SA, the holding company of Obiang Winery, and then continued to invest in the winery, building modern fermentation cellars, selecting grape varieties, and building large underground wineries. cellar, renovated winery. The efforts of two generations have transformed Obiang into a top winery with a perfect combination of tradition and modernity.

In the third generation, Clarence’s granddaughter, Joan Dillon, is one of the most meticulously run wineries in the family. Since she took over the winery in the 1970s, the Obiang winery has only made a profit in the operation, enabling the Dylan family to gradually expand the family’s wine kingdom, and successively merged the other three top wineries in Pessac.

Joan was first married to the Prince of Luxembourg, and they had a son and a daughter, a son, the Prince of Luxembourg, and a daughter. After her husband’s death, Joann married Duke de Mouchy.

Prince Hobbe de Luxembourg spent many happy hours at the winery during his childhood, and had many opportunities to taste fine wines. At the age of 18, he became the director of the winery.

In 1997, he entered the management of the company. Now he is the managing director of the Obiang winery and the vice president of Clarence Dillon. The Dylan family is an American family, and I specifically asked Prince Houbet de Luxembourg what he thought his family’s contribution to Bordeaux was. The prince meaningfully pointed out that the greatest contribution of the Dillon family to Bordeaux is as the guardian of the world heritage, producing top wines that match the reputation of this oldest winery.

Obiang Winery – Delmas Family The reason why Obiang winery can maintain the high quality and reputation of the wine for a long time is inseparable from the careful management of the three generations of the Delmas family, the head of the winery. The current director, Jean-Philippe Delmas, is the third generation of the family.

He believes that there is no better place for management in the wine industry than at Obiang Winery. Philip’s grandfather, George. Delmas (George Delmas) became the head of the Obiang winery in 1924, and eighty years later, the Delmas family is still in the Obiang winery. Three generations have passed down the management of top wineries from generation to generation, not only inheriting the long tradition of the winery, but also constantly applying new technologies and innovating, which is a story in Bordeaux.

Jean-Philippe’s father, Jean Bernard Delmas, was Bordeaux’s most outstanding château manager, and he contributed a lot to improving the quality of Obiang. Before I went to Chateau Obiang, I heard a friend mention his specially designed stainless steel fermentation barrels. Each barrel is designed with a special pipe for pouring juice, so that the wine pump does not need to be replaced. When I thought of Obiang, I must look carefully.

As soon as I arrived at Obiang, I saw the model of the fermentation barrel in the front hall of the winery. The special fermenter not only has special pipes for dipping juice, but also has two layers inside, with an inclined isolation plate in the middle to divide the fermenter into two parts.

The upper part is large and the lower part is small. The fermented wine automatically flows into the lower barrel for malo-lactic fermentation, while the lees slides out of the fermentation barrel along the slope into the press, so there is no need for people to enter the fermentation barrel to clean the lees. From the special design of the fermentation barrels, we can see that Jean-Bernart’s spirit of excellence in brewing top wines.

With 43 hectares, the Obiang vineyard is the smallest among the top wineries. The topsoil is sandy gravel, and the subsoil is clay. The grape varieties are 45% Cabernet Sauvignon, 43% Merlot, 12% Cabernet Franc, with only three lines of Petit Verdot. The vines are pruned to a double-dwelling type, and yields are strictly controlled.

The vines with a planting density of 8,000 vines per hectare have eight clusters of grapes, and the vines with a planting density of 10,000 vines per hectare have six clusters of grapes per tree to ensure the quality of the grapes.