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News
D’Issan celebrates UK-Bordeaux links
Château d’Issan invited prominent members of the UK trade to Westminster Abbey last night to commemorate the days when Bordeaux was English.
Just over 50 merchants and journalists enjoyed drinks and then supper in the cloisters and old Benedictine wine cellar of Westminster Abbey last night (18 May), the anniversary of the marriage of Henry II to Eleanor of Aquitaine.
That dynastic marriage in 1152 brought the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony and the already famous vineyards of Bordeaux into the hands of the English crown and they remained English territory until the end of the Hundred Years War in 1453.
As Emmanuel Cruse, d’Issan’s owner, explained before dinner, if the records are to be believed the wine served at the wedding over 800 years ago was from the vineyards of d’Issan (then going by the name of Lamothe-Cantenac but the same property in essence).
Although the happy couple could not be there to celebrate their 863rd wedding anniversary, the evening was perhaps best viewed as a reminder of the long-standing and important trade links between Bordeaux and the UK which were established then and, despite numerous wars, persist to this day.
Speaking of an “enduring friendship”, a special booklet recounted how the vineyards and wine merchants of Bordeaux prospered under English rule and how 200 ships a year would ply back and forth between Bordeaux, London and Southampton; filled with cloth and textiles in one direction and full of “claret” on the way back.
When Bordeaux was finally captured by the French in 1453 after the battle of Castillon on 17 July, the shattered English army took shelter at Château Theobon which occupied the site where the current house now stands.
They made sure to leave with as much claret as they could, no doubt sure the new masters of the vineyards would have no interest in continuing the old trade.
This turned out not to be the case and, despite the occasional hiccup, relations between the UK and Bordeaux have persisted ever since.
At a time when dealings between the Bordelais and UK trade have been somewhat strained due to disagreements over en primeur pricing and a shift in attention to the emerging Asian markets, the recognition of shared history and the continuing importance of the UK to Bordeaux wines was a welcome gesture.