The Château Lagorce is a castle

Castle

A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...

 in the commune

Communes of France

The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or villages in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany...

of Haux

Haux, Gironde

Haux is a commune situated in the Gironde department in southwestern France.-Population:...

 in the département of Gironde

Gironde

For the Revolutionary party, see Girondists.Gironde is a common name for the Gironde estuary, where the mouths of the Garonne and Dordogne rivers merge, and for a department in the Aquitaine region situated in southwest France.-History:...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

.

The Château

Château

A château is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor or a country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally—and still most frequently—in French-speaking regions...

 acquired its name "Lagorce" or "The Great Gorce", from a type of vegetation

Vegetation

Vegetation is a general term for the plant life of a region; it refers to the ground cover provided by plants. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular taxa, life forms, structure, spatial extent, or any other specific botanical or geographic characteristics. It is broader...

 which appeared at the beginning of the 16th century

Century

A century is one hundred consecutive years. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages .-Start and end in the Gregorian Calendar:...

.

History

According to a document from the 18th century, the château

Château

A château is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor or a country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally—and still most frequently—in French-speaking regions...

 originally had a moat

Moat

A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that surrounds a castle, other building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive water defences, including natural or artificial lakes, dams and sluices...

. The oldest tower

Tower

A tower is a tall structure, usually taller than it is wide, often by a significant margin. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires....

 has walls 1.2 meters thick, and both of these features helped it to defend itself, as it became embroiled in feudal wars during the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. The residence was partly destroyed during the latter of these centuries.

In the 15th century it changed hands with regularity as marriages took place. Bonnaventure de Faugeres claimed to hold the rights to the "Great Gorce" and initiated proceedings against his brother (or brother-in-law), Estienne Dumenilh de Faugeres. The claims were founded, as in June 1599, Lord Dumenilh gave him 16,500 pounds in payment for his rights. Bonnaventure seized the profit from his rent and from his agricultural activities, and in 1607 recuperated the whole of the property.

In 1636 it was owned by Menaud de Maonaudon, married to Marguerite de Cursol. At the time of their installation at Lagorce, they accomplished major work on the property. However, their signature is preserved in a key-stone in the form of a coat-of-arms uniting the Montaudon and Cursol family.

After the French Revolution

French Revolution

The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...

, in 1793, Francois Galatheau sold Lagorce to Hyacinthe Feger, whose nephew, Pierre resold the property in 1802 "in a very bad state" to Elie Faux, a local a wine producer.

The Faux family undertook important excavation works and planted Barsac

Barsac

Barsac is the name of several communes in France:* Barsac, Gironde, in the Gironde département* Barsac, Drôme, in the Drôme département-See also:*Barsac AOC*French wine*Bordeaux wine*Plan Bordeaux...

 and Sauternes

Sauternes (wine)

Sauternes is a French sweet wine from the Sauternais region of the Graves section in Bordeaux. Sauternes is made from Sémillon, Sauvignon Blanc, and Muscadelle grapes that have been affected by Botrytis cinerea, also known as noble rot. This causes the grapes to become partially raisined,...

 vines

Grapevine

Grapevine is the common name for plants of the genus Vitis. Other meanings include:*Grapevine , a term often used to describe a form of communication by means of gossip or rumor, as in "heard it through the grapevine"...

. Therefore the price of a tonne of wine reached 900F in 1858, compared to 250-600F for the other best wines in Haux.

In 1859 the property was sold to Jules Beyssac . After his death in 1895, and that of his wife in 1905, his children had joint possession at Lagorce. After the house was briefly passed onto the Burette family, the Baudier family had the house until 2003.
In 2003 the Holmes family bought Lagorce,the building underwent complete internal renovation

Renovation

Renovation is the process of improving a structure. Two prominent types of renovations are commercial and residential.-Process:The process of a renovation, however complex, can usually be broken down into several processes...

to how it would have looked a few hundred years ago.