Landreau Domaine
Since 1850, the Landreau family has cultivated the land of Grande Champagne from father to son. Each has enriched and developed the Estate with his own personality. Thanks to Daniel, a keen genealogist, we know the history of the family. The origin of the name ‘Landreau’ comes from a village in Loire-Atlantique near Nantes : Le Landreau.
The first Landreau ancestors settled in Charente before 1685 and it was in 1852 that the first members of the family settled in Criteuil. Pierre was a ‘farinier-meunier’ who worked at the Beaumont mill. We know from cadastral maps dating back to Napoleon1st that he bought his first vineyards in 1859 and a house at a place called ‘la métairie’ in 1874. At that time, the family lived mainly from growing cereals and owned a few animals.
It was also a period when the vineyards were invaded by Phylloxera: from 1870 onwards, the vines of the Charente were destroyed and invaded by these insects. The Landreau family's vineyards had little impact because of their geographical location: as a large proportion of the vines were by the river, recurrent flooding protected them from the invasion of phylloxera.
It was around 1870, when this disease first appeared, that Pierre's son, also named Pierre and the first to sign his name, took over the estate. It was he who built the current family home and bought the first still. Since then, the Landreau family has always distilled its own brandies.
When Pierre handed over the reins to his son Emile at the beginning of the 20th century, the Landreau family owned around 2 hectares of vines as well as fields and woods. After the First World War, Emile expanded and modernised the estate, which now covers 15 hectares of vines. He was the first to obtain his school-leaving certificate. He also bought the second still in 1930 and the first gas-powered tractor in 1951, although oxen and horses were still used to work the vines.
Paul, Emile's son, was 17 when he began working on the farm, with his school-leaving certificate in his pocket. Escaping compulsory military service in Germany following a clerical error, he expanded the business and bought a third, larger still.
Of his 4 children, it was Daniel who joined the estate in 1969 after obtaining his agricultural baccalaureate in 1968, a diploma that was then required to take over from his father in 1981. He took over the estate at a time of crisis in the Cognac wine industry, due to a sharp fall in Cognac exports. Despite the difficulties, direct sales and welcoming tourists to the farm kept the family business afloat, and Daniel was often on the road selling his spirits all over France.
