The Rettenmaier family at La Tour Figeac, 50 years of history
A few weeks ago, the Rettenmaier family opened the doors of Château La Tour Figeac to visitors to celebrate 50 years as estate owners. This was the occasion to step back in time via a vertical tasting of the past 50 vintages… Read on to find out all about this outstanding event.
It all started with a friendship. In the early 1970s, Count Hubertus von Neipperg convinced his old hunting friend Otto Rettenmaier to invest in Saint-Emilion. The family were admittedly not experts in the field of wine but decided to buy an estate anyway: Château La Tour Figeac. This marked the start of a great love story between the German family and this Saint-Emilion Grand Cru Classé located between Cheval Blanc and Figeac, at the gateway to Pomerol.
For the past half-century, the estate owners have made every effort to ensure that La Tour Figeac lives up to its full potential, in particular by restructuring a large part of the vineyards, fully modernising the vat room and cellar and obtaining organic certification in 2018. During their fifty-year love affair with La Tour Figeac, the Rettenmaier family has seen it all. Difficult vintages and wonderful surprises. Economic crises and crazy years. New markets in the East and 9/11. Tasting a vintage is therefore also about immersing oneself in a specific era.
Celebrating this half-century called for a unique event, which is why the Rettenmaier family welcomed around 70 guests to La Tour Figeac on Tuesday 16 April for an exceptional vertical tasting of the 1974 vintage through to the 2023 En Primeur vintage, all in magnum format. This tasting was also the opportunity to step back in time: “Let’s look back, show grace, laugh, marvel, forgive and simply let the wine reveal our better self: awaken all our senses, get the mind flowing, and simply share a moment of happiness together!”, said Otto Maximilian Rettenmaier. Pierre Blois, Managing Director of the Estate, explained: “We have presented the past 50 vintages in complete transparency, whether great or small. The guests were delighted and surprised to taste half a century of wines. They noticed that the common thread of La Tour Figeac was elegance, finesse, and good ageing potential.”
See you in another 50 years?
