Château Margaux
The Château Margaux is a winery in the Médoc area near Bordeaux . It produces one of the most famous wines in the world. Since 1855 , Château Margaux has had the title of Premier Grand Cru , a “First Great Plant”, which it shares with only three other châteaux in the Médoc today; however, there is another in the Graves region : Lafite , Latour , Mouton and Haut-Brion in the Graves region.
The granddaughter Margaux of the American author Ernest Hemingway is said to have been named after the wine from Margaux Castle, or after the neighboring town of the same name, Margaux .
Locations and winemaking
The Château Margaux has one of the best terroirs in the Médoc . The parcels on which the Château Margaux is produced are essentially the same as in 1855. They are exclusively located in the municipality of Margaux and are partially sloping slightly towards the Gironde . The soil consists of a four to eleven meter deep, homogeneous layer of medium to fine pebbles that were deposited by the Garonne during the Günz Ice Age . It is relatively calcareous and has excellent water drainage. This forces the vines to develop particularly deep roots.
Château Margaux has 265 hectares of land; the cultivation area for wine amounts to a total of 99 hectares. 87 hectares of which are reserved for red wine. The share of Cabernet Sauvignon is 75%, Merlot accounts for 20% , the rest is shared by Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot . 12 hectares are planted with Sauvignon Blanc , from which the white wine Pavillon Blanc is pressed.
The red vinification follows the tradition of Bordeaux : three weeks on the mash in large wooden vats, then 18 to 24 months aging in new oak barrels . The Château Margaux is bottled unfiltered. Only between 40 and 60% of the red wine goes into the Grand Vin . The rest, especially the yield from young vines, is sold under the second label Pavillon Rouge .
Château Margaux is accompanied and advised by the oenologist Jacques Boissenot and his son Eric.
Wine
The Château Margaux produces one of the most expensive red wines in the world. As in general with the wines from Margaux , of which it is the undisputed top, the focus is on bouquet and finesse. However, this does not affect its longevity; to fully develop it also requires in smaller vintages mostly over ten years. He even puts on body.
The storage potential extends far beyond that, as the well-known wine author Michael Broadbent testifies: He gave a 1787 (!) Château Margaux, tasted in 1987, its highest rating of five stars:
“Bouquet [...] with great richness and depth. [...] with a very lively, full taste, perfect in weight, length and finish. "
The largest vintages of recent times are 1982, 1983, 1986, 1990, 1996, 2000 and 2005. The Chateau Margaux red wine from 1986 and the 1990s each have a market value of around 500 euros per normal bottle (as of 2006). Other, smaller vintages are cheaper (1999 for approx. 165 euros), but others are much more expensive: the 1900 is traded as a bottle that can be proven to have been well stored for approx. 8,000 to 10,000 euros.
history
From the Middle Ages to the 1970s
The origins of the estate are lost in the Middle Ages; it was first mentioned in a document in the late 15th century. The actual vineyard was established between 1572 and 1582 by the then owner Pierre de Lestonnac through systematic purchases of plots. In 1654, through marriage, the Margaux estate came under the influence of the leading Bordelais family Pontac, who also owned the Château Haut-Brion . Its wine was the first Bordeaux ever to be sold under the name of the estate. Since the beginning of the 18th century, Margaux wine has also been known by his name in England, which remained the main customer country until 1900. Winemaking made great strides in the 18th century. For the first time only blue grapes were used for the red wine, and the harvest only took place after the morning dew had dried off. At the time, the lovers of Château Margaux included the British Prime Minister Robert Walpole and the American ambassador and later President Thomas Jefferson . In a letter dated May 24, 1787, Jefferson certifies the wines the rank of premier cru.
The French Revolution brought the end of the property's three-hundred-year family continuity. It was confiscated, but was initially bought back by the last heiress of the family. She was married to the Baron de Brane , who, however, emigrated. In 1804 she was forced to sell the estate because of the debt burden. The new owner, the Basque Colonilla , had the classicist palace built by 1816. For the next 170 years, the Château Margaux passed through the hands of bankers and trading houses. In 1921 the owners founded a public limited company, the Société vinicole de Château Margaux . In order to protect against counterfeiting, the leading Châteaux des Médoc agreed in 1924 to bottle their wine exclusively on the estate. In the difficult years between the Great Depression and World War II, however, this was again deviated from; it is only since 1950 that no barrel wine has left Château Margaux.
From 1937 to 1961, in addition to its own wines, the products of Château Durfort-Vivens were processed in the Margaux cellars. In the 1960s, the Château Margaux began to slowly decline. The owner family, Ginestet , resorted to under-regarded practices such as blending different vintages. The recession following the 1973 oil crisis increased the pressure on the Ginestet company, so that Château Margaux had been for sale since 1975.
The current owner
In 1977, the Greek entrepreneur André Mentzelopoulos finally acquired the Château Margaux for 72 million francs - including the 1974, 1975 and 1976 vintages that were still in the cellar. Since there had long been a law that made the Premier Châteaux a national cultural asset counts, the buyer first had to be naturalized as a French citizen before he was entered in the land register. Advised by the famous Bordelais oenologist Émile Peynaud , the new owner invested large sums in the cellar and vineyard. To improve the quality of the "Grand Vin", he reintroduced the second wine, "Pavillon Rouge". The 1978 vintage marks the renaissance of Château Margaux. André Mentzelopoulos died at the end of 1980.
Around 1990 his wife Laura and daughter Corinne sold the shares in Château Margaux to a Luxembourg company in which the Italian Agnelli family ( Fiat ) owns substantial shares. The previous management was taken over. In 2003 Corinne Mentzelopoulos took over the 75 percent stake in the heirs of Giovanni Agnelli for an estimated 350 million euros, making Château Margaux one of the most expensive properties in France.
Individual evidence
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^ Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson, Gutenberg Project
“Of red wines, there are four vineyards of the first quality; viz. 1. Chateau Margau, belonging to the Marquis d'Agincourt, who makes about one hundred and fifty tons, of one thousand bottles each. He has engaged to Jernon, a merchant. 2. La Tour de Segur, en Saint Lambert, belonging to Monsieur Miresmenil, who makes one hundred and twenty-five tons. 3. Hautbrion, belonging to two thirds to M. le Comte de Femelle, who has engaged to Barton, a merchant: the other third to the Comte de Toulouse, at Toulouse. The whole is seventy-five tons. 4. Chateau de la Fite, belonging to the President Pichard, at Bordeaux, who makes one hundred and seventy-five tons. The wines of the three first, are not in perfection till four years old: those of de la Fite, being somewhat lighter, are good at three years; that is, the crop of 1786 is good in the spring of 1789. These growths, of the year 1783, sell now at two thousand livres the ton; those of 1784, on account of the superior quality of that vintage, sell at twenty-four hundred livres; those of 1785, at eighteen hundred livres; those of 1786, at eighteen hundred livres, though they had sold at first for only fifteen hundred livres. Red wines of the second quality, are Rozan, Dabbadie or Lionville, la Rose, Qui-rouen, Durfort; in all eight hundred tons, which sell at one thousand livres, new. The third class, are Galons, Mouton, Gassie, Arboete, Pontette, de Ferme, Candale; in all two thousand tons, at eight or nine hundred livres. After these, they are reckoned common wines, and sell from five hundred livres, down to one hundred and twenty livres, the ton. All red wines decline after a certain age, losing color, flavor, and body. Those of Bordeaux begin to decline at about seven years old. "
- Thomas Jefferson
literature
- Nicholas Faith: Château Margaux. Kreativ-Verlag, Egg-Zürich 1989, ISBN 3-906622-19-3 .
Web links
Coordinates: 45 ° 2 ′ 40 " N , 0 ° 40 ′ 8" W.