One of the giants of Bordeaux's wine scene, Jean-Pierre Moueix, has died aged 90.
Moueix (left) set up the family firm of Etablissements Jean-Pierre Moueix in Libourne in 1937 and soon gained a reputation as a major negoçiant selling the finer Château wines from Saint-Emilion and Pomerol. The firm went on to become the most influential negoçiant house of Bordeaux's Right Bank.
'Pomerol was his great thing,' says David Peppercorn MW. Up until the 1950s, Pomerol had been regarded as a sideline in Bordeaux but all that changed when Moueix started to acquire properties there and broadened the business into winemaking.
In 1953 he bought the Pomerol châteaux Trotanoy and Le Fleur-Petrus, followed by Château Magdelaine in Saint-Emilion in 1954.
His triumph though was buying a half share of Pétrus in 1961. Moueix took over sole distribution of Pétrus in 1945 and in 1964, three years after the death of Madame Loubat, succeeded in acquiring a 50% interest in the domaine. He shared ownership with Loubat's niece Madame Lily Lacoste, who subsequently sold her share to the Moueix family. Moueix's son Christian now manages the property.
'Jean-Pierre Moueix was not only a very astute businessman but also had an enormous feel for the quality of the complex terroir of Pomerol,' says Peppercorn. 'Moueix always said that the greatest terroir in Pomerol was Château Lafleur.'
Château Lafleur is owned by Marie-Geneviève Robin and Jacques Guinaudeau.
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