Villa Bel Air (FR) Graves 1995

On December 24th 1777, Louis Dufaure, Marquis de Lajarte, bought an important property situated in the parish of Saint-Morillon called Bel-Air de Bellevue, from Jean-Pierre Motmans de l'Isle, for a sum of 70 000 pounds. From this date, the new owner, councillor at the Bordeaux Parliament, committed himself to increasing the standing of his estate, restoring the vineyard and maintaining the technical installations in good condition. In 1791, he undertook the building of a new residence, a very fine charterhouse of great architectural finesse that we can still admire to this day. The exceptional decoration (carved stones, mouldings and wreathes of leaves) has been listed as part of France's historical monuments, and is a perfect illustration of the period of the French Revolution. Unfortunately, the building of Bel-Air ended when the Revolution was at its peak. On April 28th 1794, the Marquis de Lajarte was imprisoned and rapidly executed. Bel-Air was sold as a national property. A few years later, at the beginning of the XXth century, Honoré Zappa, a wine trader in Bordeaux, enhanced the grounds by the creation of a large pond and the addition of numerous sculptures.