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The Miailhe brothers have made quite an impression across the Medoc since the 1920s. Their most impressive being the purchase of Chateau Pichon Lalande in 1925, when the Comtesse family line had ended. In 1978, May-Eliane de Lencquesaing, daughter of one of the brothers took charge, expanding Pichon Lalande's reputation globally. Desiring to expand in the Haut Medoc, eventually the Miailhe family sold Pichon Lalande to Roederer and, in 1990, purchased Chateau Bernadotte, adding to their inaugural Haut Medoc purchase, Chateau Coufran, acquired in 1925. The advancements instituted both at Pichon Lalande as well as Coufran greatly improved the image at those estates, and the Miailhe brothers gained international notoriety.
From Pichon Lalande and Coufran, they acquired Chateau Verdignan, among the oldest and most famous wineries near Pauillac. The region's most stunning chateaux sits on this estate and the complexity of this Cru Bourgeois Haut Medoc near Coufran, with its singular terroir and varietal make-up, is purely attributable to the Miailhe family. Perhaps no other Haut Medoc property compares to that of Soudars, however. When the Miailhe family arrived to this sub-zone, Eric Miailhe discovered a unique, clay-limestone terroir; atypical for Medoc. Stone by stone, row by row, he built his family's new estate by hand; literally from the ground up. Within a decade, the Miailhe family had completed the third estate of their now 750 acres in the Haut Medoc, all classified Cru Bourgeois; Chateau Soudars elevated to Cru Bourgeois Supérieur in the reclassification of 2003.
Soudars is truly in a class all its own. With this family history, I'm amazed at its consistent value. |