Case #4 · Medium
Vintage of Shadows
Château Haut-Valmont, Saint-Émilion, Bordeaux · September 18, 1986
On a warm September evening, the courtyard of Château Haut-Valmont is alive with the annual harvest festival. Amidst the accordion music, toasts, and mechanical clatter of grape presses, the estate's formidable patriarch, Henri de La Tour, is found bludgeoned to death in the underground oak barrel cellar.
The victim
Henri de La Tour
62, patriarch and traditionalist owner of Château Haut-Valmont. Fiery-tempered, proud of his Grand Cru heritage, and ruthless toward anyone who compromised the vineyard's prestige.
- Scene of the crime
- Barrel cellar
- Estimated time of death
- between 21:20 and 21:55
The suspects
Camille de La Tour
Daughter and cellar master
32. A trained oenologist who advocates modern, organic cellar practices. She has repeatedly clashed with her father over cellar management and inheritance shares.
“I spent the late evening in the fermentation vat room taking sugar hydrometer readings of the new Merlot harvest. Alain came in around twenty past nine to shout about drainage ditches, but he left quickly. I remained by the vats until the shouting started from the cellar.”
Alain Mercier
Neighboring vineyard owner
58. Rugged, stubborn proprietor of the adjoining estate. Has fought a bitter, litigious boundary and irrigation dispute with Henri for over a decade.
“I attended the festival strictly to talk business like gentlemen. I looked for Henri in the vat room around 21:20 and only found his daughter. After that, I stayed at the courtyard buffet enjoying the wine and accordion until the commotion broke out.”
Julien Vaneau
Master cooper
38. Highly skilled barrel maker employed during the harvest to toast, inspect, and hooping oak casks. Quiet, proud of his timber craft, and protective of estate secrets.
“I was shifting empty barrels between the cooperage shed and the courtyard all evening. I glanced through the salon terrace window around 21:30 and saw Madame Moreau working under her lamp. I only ran down to the cellar when I went to fetch a bung sampler.”
Sylvie Moreau
Bordeaux wine broker
44. Polished, sharp négociant handling the international export distribution of Haut-Valmont's vintages to premier European and American markets.
“I stayed in the first-floor tasting salon from 21:25 until well after ten o'clock, reviewing dispatch dockets and listening to the festival music drifting in from the courtyard. I never went down into the cellar.”