Labegorce has its origins in the large estate in the northern parts of the commune of Margaux owned by the Gorce family, as far back as the 1300s.
The family started out as merchants but proved commensurate in climbing the social ladder, soon assuming an almost aristocratic standing in the community.
They were proprietors in the 18th century, and documents from that time indicate that there was viticulture on the estate, dotted between fields of wheat and pasture (as was commonplace at the time before viticulture precluded other forms of agriculture in Bordeaux).
This was the situation when the French Revolution arrived and, as with so many other estates, Labegorce was fragmented and sold off piecemeal, resulting in the three successor estates that exist today.
Following the break-up, the estate passed onto a gentleman named Capelle but soon went from post to pillar, falling under the aegis of various managers and proprietors in quick succession. Finally, it came into the ownership of Hubert Perrodo in 1989.
Perrodo was an affluent industrialist who had amassed a sizeable fortune in the petro-chemical industry, being the founder of Perenco, a company that prospects and exploits fossil fuels.
Perrodo’s admirable overarching ambition was to reunite the three properties that once made up the former estate, and this would have been a great achievement.
To this effect he purchased all three and was on the brink of realising this longstanding ambition, but tragedy struck. Perrodo was killed in a skiing accident in late 2006. The estate has now passed to his heirs, but its destiny is less than certain.
The Labegorce vineyards include three main plots, amounting to 70 hectares in all, though only 40 hectares are presently fully planted. All three plots lie in the northernmost part of the commune. The largest plot, taking up some two-thirds of the area under vine, lies just northeast of the fine chateau (constructed by the architect Courcelles).
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