CHÂTEAU LE GAY

Château le Gay, and near-by Château Lafleur, were owned by sisters Therese and Marie Robin for some sixty years. In the later years of their tenure, the management of the estate had been largely entrusted to the Moueix family with whom it was mostly expected that the estate would end up. But when Marie Robin died and her heirs had to sell one of the estates to meet inheritance duties, it was Catherine Pere-Verge who emerged as the owner of le Gay. Catherine had spent 40 years working for the family crystal ware business before deciding to semi-retire by buying a château in Pomerol. She started at Château Montveil where she garnered sufficient enthusiasm for the life of a vigneron to throw her hat into the ring with the better sited Château le Gay. She, subsequently, went on to buy the set to be iconic Château la Violette. On buying Château le Gay, Catherine installed new wine making facilities and increased the size of the vineyard by planting some previous unplanted land. Even with the newer vines, the average age of the vineyard is still 40 years old, planted to 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc.