PARIS, October 2, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --
The Château Haut-Brion Historical Challenge: 1521, the winning mention
Domaine Clarence Dillon presents the big winner of the Château Haut-Brion Historical Challenge: the oldest written mention of Haut-Brion wine discovered to date now dates back to 1521!
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In May 2013, Domaine Clarence Dillon launched a challenge: to discover a written mention of Haut-Brion wine prior to that of 1660, contained in the cellar book of King Charles II of England, the oldest known to date. This Historical Challenge was met!
From all of the submissions recorded, two authenticated mentions emerged from the past, or more precisely the beginning of the 16th century. The earliest mention discovered now dates back to 1521, in other words 139 years earlier!
The oldest text is anotarial instrument dated 21 January 1521, discovered in the Gironde Departmental Archives, which concerns a sale of a perpetual annuity in wine between Jean de Monque, a squire and lord of the locality of Monque, and Guilhem de Mailhois, bourgeois, merchant and sergeant of Bordeaux.
This sale is agreed for a sum of 400 Bordeaux francs (a sum that would be equivalent to a current purchasing power of over approximately €50,000). In repayment of this loan, Jean de Monque undertakes to deliver each year "four pipes of wine… from the place known as Aubrion" (equivalent to eight barrique casks or 1,800 l):
["four pipes of wine, will be from the vineyard (cru) belonging to the said de Monque from the place known as Aubrion, belonging to the said seller. The said vines being found behind his smallholding established in the said place known as Le Brion, in the parish of Saint-Martin de Pessac, all of the vines of Pins Bouquet, la Gravette and Cantegrit, all belonging to the said lord of Monque, domiciled in Graves in Bordeaux, and if there are no grapes to fill the said four pipes of wine as an annuity - good, pure and clean and sellable, the said seller will be obliged to provide him with others that are just as good from the vineyard of the said above mentioned vines".]
Video:
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SOURCE Château Haut Brion
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