We can trace the origin of Lafon–Rochet as far back as the 16th century, to the 30th April 1557 to be precise, when a certain Jeanne Bernard ceded a property to Janot or Jehanot Bernard de Leyssac.

The original property was the “Fiefdom of the Roussillon Valley” or “Fief de la Vallée Roussillon”, in Leyssac. It was a vast fiefdom. Janot was a merchant of the Bordeaux Bourgeoisie, and as the new owner of the noble fiefdom of the Vallée Roussillon, he was a vassal of the Seigneur of Lesparre, to whom there are records of his having paid homage, in 1580. This fiefdom was at the origin of both the “Rochet” and of the “La Haye” properties, which come later, the latter involving an Arbouet de la Bernède, who stemmed from the same family.

Janot Bernard bought land all around his own property, considerably enlarged his estate and, in 1563, built a wall around his house (the relevant document, detailing the use of two stonemasons, still exists). He died some time from 1580–1587. His daughter, Francoise, married a certain Hellies de Lahaye (note La Haye above) and together they had a dispute, which went to arbitration, with Guillaume de Lafite, one of the founders of Lafite (see BORDEAUX – NEW YORK, profile on Lafite).

Lafite is contiguous to Lafon. They were given the right of it and were formally confirmed as the owners of the Fief de la Vallée Roussillon. Francoise’s husband died, in 1593, and, in 1619, she divided up the estate between her children. The future Lafon and La Haye were both, at this stage, still part of the estate that she was dividing. Rochet, or “Rochette” as it was often referred to at the time, was attributed to her daughter, Adrianne de Lahaye, who later married Charles de Guillamotes.
This couple left it in turn to their daughter, Antoinette de Guillamotes, who married Etienne de Lafon and thus brought him Rochet. (I repeat again that the land called ’rochet’ was given that name from the rocky soil and not from a person). Etienne de Lafon was important. He was Kings Counsellor and “Grand Chambrier” of the Bordeaux Parliament.

Antoinette died, in 1700, and stipulated in her will that her husband, Sieur de Lafon, “should choose one of HER relatives who were worthy of inheriting the land, which had come to her from her parents”. This because the couple had no children. Disagreements about his choice followed, leading to legal disputes between the families, which lasted over 50 years and finally resulted in the almost total dismemberment of the vast Vallée Roussillon estate.
Etienne was mainly absent, living his important life in his Bordeaux mansion. He therefore appointed a manager, Pierre Delage, an excellent man who, with the full support and approval of his employer, bought land, enlarged the property, planted vines and brought both fame and recognition to the wine.

Etienne had a son, Pierre, by a second marriage. Pierre took over the estate, which had come from his stepmother, after Etienne died in the 1720s. He was first a military man and then an Arms Bearer to the King. In 1720, he had married Marguerite Taudin. Although they lived chiefly in Bordeaux, they cared deeply for the property and ran it “with care and due diligence”.
Pierre enlarged, regrouped and improved the estate, in spite of the inconvenient business of the family squabbles with the Lahaye family (the family that Francoise had married into). Pierre was not a blood relative, and the fact of the matter was that some of the land was still in “joint possession” with those Lahayes.

(It is complicated but Sieur Branne and Demoiselle Lahaye, who was the widow of Sieur Lalanne, were the heirs of the Dame de Guillamotes, and some of the land of the old “Rochet" was still in joint ownership with the Lafons). Having done an excellent job, he died some time from 1770–1775, intestate and with a lot of children. His widow, together with one of their sons, Jean Lafon, continued to administer the estate with great skill. She lived and died there, in 1788.

Now came the Revolution. Fortunately, or at least fortunately at this point of time and for them, the Lafon family were not considered noble enough to attract the revolutionary violence, jealousy and risk of imprisonment or decapitation.
Jean was even made part of the local “Stéphanois (people from Saint Estephe) Revolutionary Council”.An existing document proclaims his patriotic acts! It was at this time that he officially took the name Jean Lafon Rochet, to distinguish himself from his three brothers, who each also took a place name.

Thus they became Arnaud Lafon Barrail, Joseph Lafon de Camarsac and Raymond Lafon Du Hayet. The brothers were very close and, in 1799, they decided to divide up the property between them. It was still a huge estate, third in the area only to Madame du Moulin (the future Calon Segur) and to Louis–Gaspard d’Estournel.
Wine at that time, although still far from what it is today, was really the only source of income in the very poor district of Saint Estephe. Cereal had been changed for vines. The brothers drew lots for four equal parts. Joseph got Lot 1 and Arnaud Lot 2. These comprised the estate mansion, cellars, and buildings – the heart of the property. Arnaud later left his part to Joseph, and thus Joseph became the owner of the whole of the heart of the estate, which became definitively the Lafon–Rochet of today.

Joseph had been born in 1744, went to sea until 1773, and then married the wealthy Anne Paignon, in 1793. Her great wealth, and his considerable fortune, were not enough and they lost everything - we are really not at all sure why, but assume it must have been the Revolution! She was wealthier than he was and possibly was regarded as noble Joseph died in 1810.
Anne continued to run the estate, in the face of tremendous financial difficulties. She refused to give up but, in 1824, in despair, she divided up all her possessions between her three children. Rochet, her chief possession, went to her eldest child, Louis Arnaud Blaise Lafon de Camarsac, who already lived there.

The vineyard area had been drastically reduced during those hard times and Joseph’s misfortunes and, in 1825, as sole proprietor, he inherited just 15 rather run–down Hectares of vines. Louis Arnaud worked very hard indeed at re–establishing what had been left to him. He devoted his life to it. He wheeled, dealt, bought, exchanged and slowly enlarged.
Terrible hail, in 1839, destroyed a lot of what he was trying to do (Lafite’s crop was 100% destroyed). He married Marie–Chevalier Pages, who helped him tirelessly. When he died, he left two–thirds to her and one–third to their son, Pierre Alcide, born 1821. Marie–Chevalier was the lifeblood of the estate and ran things so well and so efficiently, and made such fine wine that, in 1855, Lafon–Rochet was classified Fourth Growth. Some say even that it should have been a Third Growth.

Pierre married and became father of Lucie. When Marie–Chevalier died, in 1888, after a very long spell at the helm, she willed one–third of her two–thirds to her son and two–thirds to her granddaughter. Lucie now held a majority.
Looking back at history, one can see that a large part of the greatness of Lafon–Rochet was due to Marie–Chevalier Lafon de Camarsac. She stipulated in her will that, “my heirs do NOT sell the property that belonged to me and my son”.Pierre became a famous artist in Paris. He was not at all interested either in money or in making wine. He was unworldly and left his daughter Lucie to manage things, which was excellent for the estate.

He created enamels, and left over 7,000 of them. Towards the end of his life he came back to the Médoc to die in peace, on 9th November 1905. In spite of all the careful husbandry of Marie–Chevalier, and then of Lucie, phylloxera all but destroyed the vineyards and, on 30th June 1895, Pierre and Lucie had to sell. They did so, to Frederic Audon, for 110,000 Francs. 300 years of single family tenure had finally come to an end. The property now comprised 26 Hectares.

The Audon family held it from 1895–1924. They brought money to it, rebuilt it and, by 1908, it was producing no less than 100–120 Tonneaux. Audon had also bought Chateau Ladouys, next door. He owned many other estates throughout France and lived in Cannes. His wife was Marie Madeleine Lucie Buttura.Bad feeling between the couple led to a divorce, and all Audon’s properties were sold by auction, on 4th June 1924.
Lafon Rochet was bought by Marcel Ricard, jointly with his wife, Catherine Marguerite Eyssand, for 115,175 Francs. Catherine died immediately after the purchase, the same year, leaving behind her husband and two children. Everybody quarrelled with everybody, and after years of disagreements, the estate was sold, on 8th September 1938, to Elie and Berthe Nafrechoux, who kept it for just two years before selling it on to Charles Louis Duquenoy–Legry, on 18th February 1940, for 200,000 Francs.

Charles was a brewer from the North of France and an absentee landlord. He appointed a poor administrator, Fernand Revon. The vineyards went steadily downhill and quality fell accordingly. By 1949, production was down to 60 Tonneaux and by 1960 there was scarcely any production at all. On 6th May 1960, it was bought by the parents of the present owner, Guy and Nicole Tesseron.


HISTORY OF OWNER
The family Tesseron have their history rooted in Cognac. They were an old Charentais family, who had been there for centuries, certainly since the 1600s. They were farmers and landowners. Indeed they founded the Cognac house “La Maison A. Tesseron”, which specialised in providing fine old aged Cognacs to the big companies for their finest old and rare blends and brands.

They did not sell their Cognac on the market at all, but matured them in their cellars and sold them on to the above large companies. It was really Guy Tesseron (the present owner’s father) who expanded the family affairs and started the above business. Guy had a fabulous nose and was frequently called in by outsiders to give his expert opinion, which was respected and taken as gospel.
He also founded the famous company of “Bordeaux Alcool”. There were only two such companies in Cognac, this and Bernard. When Mendes France (a Prime Minister famous for drinking milk!), passed the law allowing only one distillery per region, it was regrettably, at least for Tesseron, awarded to Bernard.

Guy married Nicole Cruse, daughter of Emmanuel Cruse, a leading member of the Bordeaux “aristocracy of the cork” and of the family who owned Chateau d’Issan, as well as a number of other fine properties. He had three sons – Alfred, Michel and Gerard.
Michel and Gerard were twins. As we have seen, when Guy Tesseron bought Lafon–Rochet, in 1960, it was in a sad state of disrepair.He first set about improving the state of the vineyard, and then put his mind to repairing the buildings, many of which were in ruin. Judging the old Chateau to be beyond repair, he decided to demolish it and to replace it with an elegant building, based on the architectural plans of an 18th century “chartreuse”.

In so doing he was unique, and became the only twentieth century Chateau owner to have built his own Chateau. He and his family esteemed that a noble Médoc wine such as Lafon Rochet required a suitably noble abode! Five years earlier, in 1975, Guy had already bought Chateau Pontet Canet, from the Cruse family. His links with that family were extremely close.

Having run the two properties in Bordeaux together for 12 years, the family realised that the image of the two was too similar. One tended to be a reflection of the other; to the point where some people seemed to think that Lafon Rochet was a second wine of Pontet Canet. They wanted each to have their own image and personality. Therefore, in 1999, they entirely separated the two. Michel’s brothers, Gerard and Alfred took Pontet Canet and Michel, twin brother of Gerard, took Lafon Rochet.Michel therefore owns Lafon Rochet today.
Wine is like the body of a woman. It must be handled often, but with love and care. He was born, in 1943, in Bordeaux. He went to the Bordeaux School of Commerce. Then came Military Service. Following this, he spent a short while training in finance and accountancy before going to the USA and to Wall Street, in 1966.

Finding this dull, he got himself a job with Sherry Lehmann and started to work in the warehouse, lugging boxes with a black boxer, who became a great friend and taught him all the American words a nice young Frenchman is not supposed to know.
He also worked for them as a salesman and there he met Tom Heeter, then a history professor. He put him in touch with the Tari family, who owned Giscours. Tom married Nicole Tari and they bought Chateau Nairac, in Barsac. Michel also worked for a while with Austin Nicolls.Back to Bordeaux! He got a job with the help of Hugues Lawton.

This was with Ogier, in Cognac, working with Francois de Guinzberg and the mighty Seagram. The job proved uninteresting, and Hugues arranged to move him to Barton and Guestier (also Seagram), on the sales side, where he started to work with Ronald Barton. The Seagram Empire was undergoing changes.
In 1979, Michel left B&G. He then became a broker with Lionel Couecou for three years. Following this he became export director of Chantecaille, Bordeaux Négociants. In 1985, he went to work for Bill Harris at Curlier, an offshoot of Hiram Walker. They had the exclusivity of Cantenac–Brown.Finally, in 1987, Michel joined the family business.

As we have now seen, he worked together with the family for 12 years, until they decided upon the separation described above. Today his son, Basile, works in the wine trade for one of the best-known Bordeaux Négociants. Michel, now in his late 60s, is finally exactly, and contentedly, where he should have been all along.


OWNERS. WHO’S WHO
Michel Tesseron is owner of Lafon–Rochet. His consultant oenologist is the renowned Jacques Boissenot.Some figures are interesting, to show what is required to run a property like Lafon. He employs personnel of 25. Seven male vineyard workers and 4 female, 1 mechanic, 3 tractor drivers, 1 handyman, 1 cook, 3 office staff, 3 cellar workers, 1 bottler and himself!You must have conscience and at least some dreams


VINES
When Guy Tesseron bought the property, there were 15 Hectares only of Merlot. As we have seen, the previous owner lived far from the property and had let the manager do whatever he wanted, good or bad, and most of it had been bad. Today there are 41 hectares. Of these, 22 are planted with Cabernet Sauvignon, 16 with Merlot, 2 with Cabernet Franc and 1 with Petit Verdot. The average age of the vines is 30 years and they are planted at a density of 8800–9200 vines per Hectare.

The pruning system is the Médoc version of the Double Guyot, very short pruned. Michel prefers his “pruners” to work on the system that the French term “a façon”, rather than “a la piece”. He finds that if they are paid “a la piece”, which means “by vine”, it encourages them to hurry to prune as many as possible and not perhaps to do the job as carefully as they should.
He has one man, who may only prune 500–600 vines per day, instead of the usual 900, but he repairs them as he goes along and repairs also the mistakes of others. His vines flourish and produce so well, and he does such a splendid job, that he must be left in peace and allowed to work at his own pace.

Michel does some grassing between rows, especially where the vine tends to be overzealous and over–vigorous.He considers biodynamic viticulture with immense respect, but says that to be practiced usefully it needs to be fully understood and controlled. He feels that at present this is far from the case. He feels that he must use pesticides when the vine is in need of them. “When a man needs a doctor he needs a doctor”!
However, he no longer sprays with Copper Sulphate solution.Since 2004, he has started creating his own massal selection from his own carefully selected, aged, vegetal material. All his manure today is organic.The best land is the same as the worst if it is not well cultivated. Vauban, 1670


SOIL
We have said, rather boringly and several times, that the “Rochet” or “Rochette” name comes from the rocks of the soil. For thousands of years, chunks of rock, torn from the mountains of the Massif Central and the Pyrenees, and rolled along by the original primeval river, have been broken down into pebbles (gravel) by constant erosion and deposited on the calcareous base of Saint Estephe. This created outcrops of deep gravel.

The soil, here at Lafon Rochet, is old Quaternary gravel (Günz), made up of quartz,sandstone, flint, volcanic Lydian, grit (millstone), sand and clay. The diversity of the make–up of this gravel, together with its excellent drainage, produces a truly great soil for fine wine. Thus it is, put quite simply, gravel over clay–limestone. When driving round the vineyards one noticed abrupt changes from patch to patch. At the same time, Michel had to change gears constantly andre marked,“Whoever said that the Médoc was flat ” Indeed the slopes here are particularly steep.


WINE MAKING
Grapes are picked by hand into cagettes. On arrival at the cellars they are sorted, in draconian fashion, on two sorting tables, one before the destalker and the other after it. The grapes go immediately into the stainless steel fermenting tanks.
These are all thermo–regulated. Michel’s dream is to install new cement vats, with their new, outstanding, thermally stable composition. There has been a revolution in the composition of cement and a number of top Chateaux are now looking into them. They have become remarkably expensive, but Michel is determined to have them sooner or later. They no longer require any lining, epoxy or other. He practices pumping over as often, and to whatever extent, the vintage demands.

No rack and return. He carries out the “saignée” or “bleeding” process when the juice needs some concentration, and as he humorously remarks, “when I need a little delicious rosé wine for drinking in the summer!” There is no pre–fermentation maceration, but for all of these operations there are no set rules. “The vintage dictates”.Cultured yeasts are used for security. He does not use enzymes.
Fermentation temperature is up to about 30°C, and the duration of fermentation is some 6–8 days. Postfermentation maceration can vary from 9–15 days, giving a total vat time of 15–23 days. The vats are all thermo–regulated by water circulation.The malo–lactic fermentation is done partly in the stainless steel tanks and partly in new barrels, according to the wine. That fermented in vat then goes into barrel.

The wine spends between 14-20 months in them, half of them new. Michel uses some Caucasian and Hungarian oak, which he finds to be excellent. He finds that the oak flavours come more slowly.
He laughs at the absurdity of “wood of European origin” marked today on some barrels. Racking is done regularly, every three months, and the wine is fined, either with white of egg or with bentonite, depending upon its constitution and that of the matter in suspension. He does his own bottling, with a light cleaning filtration on the way.


PROJECTS
A new vat room and a splendid air–conditioned cellar were built in 2000. New buildings are in process of being constructed to house his precious equipment and tractors. Michel’s chief project now is to promote the individual identity of Lafon–Rochet as a fine Saint Estephe and a great Cru Classé, and to make ever finer and finer wine.


PRODUCTION
Lafon Rochet has 40 hectares of vines producing approximately 50 Hectolitres per Hectare. This gives about 22,000 cases.50% of this is Chateau Lafon Rochet and the other 50% is the second wine – Pélerins de Lafon Rochet.

2003 LAFON ROCHET
Colour : Vivid, purple, sustained and intense
Nose : Huge, fruity, open and generous nose. Lots of cedar–wood and powerful, gentle tannins.
Palate : Again very big and full of black, spicy fruit. The wine is strong and vigorous, with full–blooded flavours, deep and lasting. Very long in the mouth, with a lingering aftertaste. In every way a ripe, rich and intense Saint Estephe, showing all the body for which the appellation is famous. The flavours are still very young and hold great promise for a big bottle in 8–10 years time.

2001 LAFON ROCHET
Colour :Young and fresh and vivid. A clear, bright and peacefully evolving colour. Classical.
Nose : Unexpectedly undemonstrative today. There is a great deal of fine fruit and fragrance, subjected at present to the developing aromas of fine oak and young, elegant but developing tannins.
Palate : Excellent and with deep, black, juicy fruit. Long in the mouth. Pure and admirably balanced. The tannins are very up–front at present, granular and voluminous, but fine and ripe and will ensure perfect development. This will be a fine bottle, with great elegance. It should not be judged too early.

2000 LAFON ROCHET
Colour : Very young indeed still, with a purple edge. Intense, deep and vivid.
Nose : Big, powerful, rich, dense, aromatic and pungent. Black, black fruits. Oriental spices and sandalwood.
Palate : Decidedly Lafon–Rochet is making intense, rich and powerful wines. This 2000, already a year of dense and concentrated wines, is doubly so. The structure is powerful and solid. The supporting tannins voluminous, extremely present but at the same time fully ripe. The acidity, in spite of the rich, concentrated fruit, is crisp and fresh. You will have to wait a long time to drink this fine Saint Estephe at its best, but it is a young, rich, ripe flavoured and mouth filling drink if you wish to drink it young.

TOP OF THE PAGE