Historia
Thomas Barton had been brought up in Curraghmore, Co. Fermanagh and left his native Ireland in 1722 at the age of 27 years old.
He worked with his maternal uncles Thomas and William Dickson who had considerable trade in France. It was in this connection that Thomas was sent to France, first to Montpellier, then to Marseille. He was not therefore pre-destined to be a wine merchant but when in 1725 he went to Bordeaux with its importance as an Atlantic port, Thomas became interested in wine and soon founded his first company which was later to become Barton & Guestier.
He rapidly created a financially successful business with a regular clientele in Ireland. He was a man of great authority, firm but honest in his transactions ; by 1737 he had already made a small fortune and was well respected in Bordeaux where he became known as “French Tom”. In 1743 he introduced his son William to the business but William was a man of very different calibre to his father and their relations were never of the best.
At this time the French law known as ‘Le Droit d’Aubaine’ stipulated that estates of any foreigner dying in France would revert to the French Crown. Although Thomas had applied for French citizenship, this was not in fact granted until after his death. For this reason he never bought any vineyards in France preferring to invest his considerable profits in property in Ireland.
He did rent an attractive home in the Médoc, Château Le Boscq in Saint-Estèphe, but it was his grandson Hugh who became the first member of the family to actually own a vineyard. Thomas died in 1780 aged 85.
Château Langoa has been a family property since the year 1821. For many years before purchasing this magnificent Château however, Hugh Barton had his eyes on Château Lafite but never succeeded in concluding the deal. These were the days before the classification of 1855 and although Langoa was eventually classified a 3rd growth it was surely the architecture, the elegant façade and harmonious proportions of the building which tempted Hugh.
The park
Thanks to successive generations Langoa possesses a superb park planted mainly with oak trees. The gardens are a mixture of classical French style with orderly box hedges and symmetrical lay-out combined with an English influence of more natural landscaping. The present owners Eva and Anthony Barton continue to add points of interest, frequently involving the use of XVIIIth century stonework.
The building
Built in 1758, the central part of the building comprises the three main rooms, entrance hall, dining room and drawing room. These rooms occupy the whole width of the home and in this way enjoy exceptional light with sunshine in the morning from the East and in the afternoon and evening from the West. The two wings provide some six bedrooms all elegantly decorated and today comfortably installed. This part of the dwelling is on the first floor, the ground floor being reserved for kitchen and cellars.
Cellars
At one time there were even to be found barrels of wine ageing and waiting to be bottled. Today these cellars contain bottles of numerous past vintages but the barrels are housed in more practical buildings elsewhere on the property.