The main building at Château Dudon ‘was built during the reign of Louis XIII in the seventeenth century, but was badly neglected until Mme Allien decided to bring it back to life again. For forty years, after the premature death of her great-grandfather, its wine had been sold in bulk. The property had descended through the female side of the family and in the 1980s Mme Allien resolved to put Dudon back into production as an estate-bottled wine. She restored the property, hired a cellarmaster who had worked at Coutet and issued her first wine from the 1988 vintage,’