The hard-partying duke who brought Bordeaux to the court of Versailles

by Charlie Leary

In a 1758 edition of Paris’ Gazette, immediately below reports of the battles of French and British warships, appeared the paragraph-long description of the Duke of Richelieu’s (1696-1788) arrival in Bordeaux, where “he received all the honours customarily given to the Governors of the Province of Guyenne.”

The military commander (grand-nephew of Cardinal Richelieu) had recently been sent there by his friend King Louis XV. War between the rival powers of the 18th century had, in 1756, once again re-ignited, and the city’s vignerons and wine merchants were suffering.

A gourmand and libertine, Richelieu nevertheless celebrated in style, hosting, “a ball that lasted until six in the morning, where one found all the principal ladies of the city, & all the nobility.” Four days later, after being received by Bourdeaux’s Parlement, he hosted a “sumptuous meal [with local wines] for all the nobility in the Government Gardens, prepared there because there existed no hall big enough to contain a table for 300 covers.”

The Duke of Richelieu and Bordeaux
Richelieu already knew Bordeaux wine’s enchanting qualities, which prior to his governorship had little currency in Paris or the court at Versailles. Champagne and Auxerre (Bourgogne) wines predominated in elite French circles. Bordeaux’s fortunes (and economic miseries) came from international trade with Holland, the colonies, and Britain.

In 1754, Richelieu had received a gift of bottles of Aquitaine wine from perspicacious locals looking to increase domestic consumption by currying favour among well-connected nobles. As governor, Richelieu quickly became familiar with the grand cru wines of Médoc and Graves and befriended key personalities such as the owners of the Domaine de Gasque (the future Chateau Palmer) and the Fumel family of Haut-Brion. His favourites do not surprise: Haut-Brion, Margaux, Lafitte, and LaTour.

The jurats of Bordeaux continued giving Richelieu gifts of bottled wine even as he became governor because of his frequent sojourns to Paris and Versailles, where, as they clearly hoped, Louis XV took notice. Richelieu wasn’t the only one receiving “loss leaders” of wine from members of the Bordeaux wine trade. The duc de Choiseul and the Maréchal de Thonond were similarly presenting Bordeaux wine at court. As the Bordeaux historian Philippe Meyzie points out, the “quantities could be very impressive, such as 1,000 bottles of wine shipped in 1753 to the Count of Saint-Florentin, the minister in charge of the province at Versailles, or even the sum of 10,772 livres spent by the city solely on wine gifts in 1774.”

Even after he left Bordeaux, Richelieu’s taste for grand cru, appropriately bottle aged, continued. Bordeaux had now become fashionable at court and in Paris. In 1774 his friend in Bordeaux, the canon of Saint-Seurin, wrote: “I will send on Monday or Tuesday next 20 crates of your Margaux fine wine or wine from Obrion that will contain old bottles, all of which will be marked with your coat of arms on the cork; with this precaution, it will no longer be possible for anyone to switch your wine.”

The domestic popularity of Bordeaux and the high price of the grands vins had resulted in frequent counterfeiting and robbery. Overall, by the 1780s, Bordeaux white and reds had achieved commercial success within France, diversifying markets and resulting in more predictable (and profitable) sales.

In 1785 the royal inspector of manufacturing could note: “The wines from Graves have a great reputation and deserve it. The most renowned red wines from Graves are those from Château Haut-Brion, owned by Count de Fumel, and the white ones are from Carbonnieux, made by the Benedictines of Sainte-Croix de Bordeaux. The red wines from Graves are sold at the same price as those from other great Bordeaux wines like Lafite, Latour, and Château Margaux.” This marked a major shift from the situation in the 1720s and 1730s. And it’s clear that Louis XV and the influential courts at Versailles and Fontainbleu had taken notice, no longer just drinking Champagne and Burgundy.

The Myth of Richelieu and Louis XV
So, was all this thanks to Richelieu’s influence with the French king, his childhood playmate?

Partially.

His love of Bordeaux and his influential contacts certainly played a role, at the right time, though Richelieu’s story is really more of an emblem of a larger shift in elite wine consumption within France. Intriguingly, a somewhat apocryphal story grew up around Richelieu and the French King’s sudden decision to drink Bordeaux wine. Purportedly authored by the Marquise de Créqu, the 7-volume Souvenirs de la marquise de Créquy chronicled life in the French royal court under Louis XV. The manuscript appeared in print during 1834-1835. The true author was a Breton named Cousin de Courchamps, who really didn’t know much about Bordeaux or the court. Nevertheless, the legend of Richelieu spread. The first two volumes appeared in English in 1834.

During the 19th century, other authors reproduced the tale of how much influence Richelieu had, giving his advice to the king mythical status. Théophile Malvezin’s History of Bordeaux Commerce had to debunk the myth in 1892. “It has been claimed,” Malvezin wrote, that Créque recorded the words of Richelieu and King Louis. “The very untruthful author of the Apocryphal Memoirs [ . . . ] was as ignorant of the language of the elegant and polite court of the King of France as he was of Bordeaux wine.” Using his expert oenological knowledge, Malvezin pointed out impossible statements regarding Sauternes, Graves resembling “Moselle wine,” lacking any knowledge of Haut-Brion, and referring to a non-existent Médoc appellation.

“How can we admit that the Duc de Richelieu who, since 1758, held a gallant and sought-after court in Bordeaux, who every evening gave a dinner for 100 guests where he brought together the prettiest women and where he drank the best wines, who was surrounded of the great lords of the country, almost all owners of vineyards, who had the closest relations with the president of Gascq, owner of Léoville and other crus,” could make such mistakes. It was impossible.

In the end, the story of the Duke of Richelieu’s purported influence on Louis XV’s preference for Bordeaux wines might be shrouded in legend and inaccuracies, yet his significant impact on the rise of Bordeaux wines within elite circles remains an undeniable chapter in the history of oenology and French culture.

Richelieu’s fascination with the grand cru wines of Bordeaux, his connections with influential wine personalities, and his promotion of these wines in the higher echelons of society played a crucial role in elevating Bordeaux’s status from a regional favorite to a prestigious and sought-after choice at the French court and beyond. The Duke of Richelieu’s legacy in championing Bordeaux wines stands as a testament to how influential personalities shaped perception and popularity, leaving an indelible mark on Bordeaux’s winemaking history.