Chem. de la Lamberte, 33500 Pomerol, France
The Château de la Croix du Casse, located in the south of Pomerol and on the edge of Libourne, is mentioned on maps dating from the 18th century, produced by Pierre de Belleyme, geographical engineer to King Louis XV. According to these documents, vines were planted in 1775.In 1956, Georges Audy, merchant, renowned winegrower from Pomerol, and owner of Château Clinet, bought the property. He largely replanted the vineyard to replace the vines, at the time, damaged by frost during the winter. Jean-Michel Arcaute, his son-in-law, talented winemaker and winemaker took over management of the property a few years later.
Thanks to the help of Michel Rolland, he improved the quality of the wine
and gave it an excellent reputation. In 2001, Jean-Michel Arcaute disappeared in a tragic boat accident in Arcachon and left behind his wine properties.The National Insurance Group, owner for several years of Château la Croix du Casse, will let Philippe Castéja and his sister, Chantal Preben Hansen, already owners of 8 châteaux and the Borie-Manoux trading house, take over the property in the spring of 2005 to give it a second wind. Numerous works were carried out following the acquisition of the Castéja family, such as the roofs, the trellising and the vat room.
After the discovery of a layer of clay underground, the earth was also reworked to immerse the roots and bring more elements to the vines and ultimately to the wine.Just after its acquisition, Philippe Castéja modernized the wine packaging to highlight the change in orientation of the Château, and created a second wine, Chemins de la Croix du Casse, in order to reinforce the quality effort.
For the record, when Philippe Castéja redid the packaging of the wine, he added to the label the emblem of the pilgrims of Santiago de Compostela which is also the symbol of the order of the Hospitallers of Saint John of Jerusalem.
This small cross with a scallop shell at the crossing of the branches was once carved on the terminals of the Commanderie domain and is today embroidered on their red dress. On the way to Santiago de Compostela, the cross is always a guide for pilgrims, and the shell, which has symbolically become the attribute of the apostle, is often hung on pilgrims' bags.
