Cruse family

[5][6] With financial support of his wife, he cornered the Bordeaux market in 1847; that year's harvest turned out to be excellent, and he made a fortune.

[8] The first winery acquired by Herman Cruse, in 1852, was Château Laujac in Bégadan, Gironde, in the heart of the Médoc area.

The wine was not bottled at the estate, and sold in large quantities without vintage label to the French railways company.

The ensuing scandal forced Cruse to sell the estate in 1975 to Cognac merchant Guy Tesseron, owner of Château Lafon-Rochet.

The effort and expenditure they have poured into Château d'Issan over the ensuing decades may be paying off, as some recent vintages have produced top quality wines.