Château Fortia

Château Fortia is a French wine producing estate in the Châteauneuf-du-Pape region of the Rhône Valley. With a history dating back to the eighteenth century (on land that has been producing wine since at least the fourteenth century), Château Fortia has long been a notable producer in the southern Rhône. In the early twentieth century, the estate came under the direction of Pierre Le Roy de Boiseaumarié. Baron Le Roy went on to be co-founder of the '' Institut National des Appellations d'Origine'' (INAO) and guided the creation of the '' Appellation d'origine contrôlée'' (AOC) system which is the basis of not only French wine laws but has also been influential in the laws and appellation systems around the globe.C. Kissack
Chateau Fortia
The Wine Doctor. Retrieved February twenty-eighth, 2010

History

While the estate has a long winemaking history with ancient cellars that were constructed in the fourteenth century, the modern winemaking history of Château Fortia dates to the mid eighteenth-century when the Marquis de Fortia d'Urban leased a portion of his land in 1763 to sharecroppers who were producing wine. By 1783, the wine being produced from the estate was receiving favorable accolades from consumers in Northern Europe, the British Isles and the West Indies. In writings, the Marquis describes the red Châteauneuf-du-Pape as "... between that of Languedoc and Bordeaux. It is less smoky than the former and its bouquet close to the later."

In the early nineteenth century, the estate passed to a descendant of the Marquis de Fortia, Paul-Antoine de Fortia, who further expanded the vineyard plantings and buildings on the estate. By 1815 there were outside records of a castle ''La Fortiasse'' on the estate. In 1843, the Count de Ripert Monclar wrote favorably of the estate and described the hermitage that was among the vineyards. That same year, Paul-Antoine died and the estate passed to his heir Louis de Séguins-Pazzis, comte du Pazzi, who held the financially encumbered estate for only a short time before selling it to a local tax collector, M. de Orollée Virville. The estate continued to pass from owner to owner for the rest of the nineteenth century, being owned at one point by the French branch of the Gondi family, until it was purchased by Bernard Le Saint in 1890. Le Saint was a former director who maintained the official journal of the Egyptian government. He further expanded the estate and gave it its current name, Château Fortia. In 1919, his daughter Edmée married a decorated World War I pilot, Baron Pierre Le Roy de Boiseaumarié.

When Baron Le Roy died in 1967, the estate passed to his son Henri Le Roy. In 1994, Henri's son Bruno Le Roy took over as manager and continued managing the estate until 2004. Since 2001 until now, Didier Robert from ICV served as a consulting enologist and the quality of the wines increased. Since 2004, the estate has been run by Pierre Pastre (Chantal Le Roy de Boiseaumarié's husband) was nominated by the family to manage the estate.

Baron Le Roy

Baron Pierre Le Roy de Boiseaumarié (5 April 1890-June 1967) was born in Mortagne, Normandy to a family that could trace its history back to the Crusades. As a teenager, Le Roy joined the uprising in the Languedoc over adulteration of wine and chaptalization led by French wine grower Marcellin Albert. Despite the threat from law enforcement, Le Roy was one of the participants who set fire to the Judicial Court of Montpellier. After the events settled down, Le Roy returned to education earning both bachelor of science and master of law degrees.Château Fortia
BARON PIERRE LE ROY DE BOISEAUMARIE
'' Official Biography. Retrieved 28 February 2011

In 1914, Pierre Le Roy was drafted in the cavalry of the French Army but later changed service and became a pilot in the Air Force. After being shot down twice during World War I, Le Roy was awarded the Chevalier of the Legion of Honor and the Croix de Guerre (Military Cross). Returning home to Vendargues, he met married the daughter of Bernard Le Saint in 1919. He soon gained control of Château Fortia and became a prominent figure in not only the history of Châteauneuf-du-Pape but also the history of French wine. In 1935 he co-founded the ''Institut National des Appellations d'Origine'' (INAO) and, the next year, spearheaded the creation of the ''Appellation d'origine contrôlée'' (AOC) system that would become the basis of the French wine laws and continue to influence European wine laws

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