Clos Thou

Clos Thou takes its name from Raymonde de Thou, who owned vines here in 1538. After years as tenant farmers, Henri Lapouble-Laplace’s great-grandparents bought the property in 1920, and the family gradually turned a mixed farm toward winegrowing. Henri began with a single hectare in 1990 and built the vineyard to nine; Julie Lapouble-Laplace has since joined the family enterprise after viticulture and oenology studies and wide cellar experience.

The vines climb steep Jurançon slopes around 250 to 300 metres, rooted in clay-silt soils over the region’s puddingstone, or poudingue. The estate gained organic certification in 2010 and uses permanent ground cover and compost preparations. Petit and Gros Manseng lead the plantings, alongside Petit Courbu, Gros Courbu, Camaralet and Lauzet. Harvesting is by hand in successive passes; for late-picked fruit, dry Foehn winds concentrate the grapes on the vine.