Cheateau Margaux

Château Margaux is undoubtedly one of Bordeaux’s finest wines and possibly one of the world’s greats. Situated in the Medoc wine growing region to the north of Bordeaux.

History

The estate has been in existence since at least the 12th century, but it was only with the arrival of the Lestonnac family in the 16th century that wine production became an important part of the estate and in the 1570s Pierre de Lestonnac cleared many of the grain fields to make way for grapes. By 1700 the estate grew to an area of 265 hectares, of which  78 hectares is devoted to the vine.
As with most of Médoc's châteaux, the 18th century saw the wine develop from a pale watery drink that faded within only a few years, to the dark, complex liquid that has been stored in cellars ever since. At Château Margaux this transformation was largely due to a manager named Berlon, who revolutionised techniques of wine-making by introducing novel ideas such as forbidding harvesting in the early morning to avoid dew-covered grapes, and acknowledging for the first time the importance of soill quality.
By the 19th century, the estate's wine was well known. Thomas Jeffersonn placing it number one in his personal classification. The 1855 classification ordered by Napoleon III confirmed its status.
The estate's château itself was completely rebuilt in 1810 when Bertrand Douat, Marquis de la Colonilla, commissioned one of Bordeaux' foremost architects, Guy-Louis Combes, to create a building worthy of the wines that were made on the site. The result was Combes' masterpiece, a four-square palace with a columned portico in neo-Palladian style that has been called the "Versailles of the Médoc", familiar from its appearance on the Château Margaux label. It sits in its own park, at the end of a cobbled drive.
In the 1970s, after a series of low-quality vintages, the owners of the estate since 1950 were forced to sell Château Margaux. The successful buyer was French grocery and finance group Félix Potin, headed by Greek André Mentzelopoulos. Mentzelopoulos transformed the vineyard through well-chosen investment in the wine-making process and by his death in 1980 Château Margaux was back among the region's finest wines. At the beginning of the 1990s, an exchange of shares was negotiated with the Agnelli family but the management remained in the hands of Mentzelopoulos' daughter Corinne Mentzelopoulos. In 2003, Corinne Mentzelopoulos bought back the majority stake and became the sole shareholder of Château Margaux.

Vineyard
As is predominantly the case in Médoc, the majority of the vines are Cabernet Sauvignon, with its vines covering 75 percent of the vineyards. Next comes Merlot at 20 percent, with Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot making up the rest. Around 30,000 cases are made annually, with production divided between the famous Premier Cru and the additional Pavillon Rouge. A small amount of Sauvignon Blanc is also grown to make the Pavillon Blanc wine, sold under Bordeaux generic AOC. Average vine age at Chateau Margaux is 35 years.

Great vintages
The best vintages are considered to be those wines with intensity and concentration, combined with a light, velvety texture, the hallmark of great French wine - the years 1945, 1947, 1949, 1959, 1961, 1982, 1985, 1986, 1989, 1990, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2003 and 2005.

Related links

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Chateau Margaux official site