Thursday, August 23, 2012
A Brief History Of Chateau Margaux
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Chateau Margaux
Today I'd like to talk about one of the greatest investments to come out of Bordeaux. One of the four original first growths. Some of the people don’t realize that back in 1855, Molten Rothschild was not classified as one of the first growths. As a matter of fact, it was the only property that was elevated from that original 1855 classification. Chateau Margaux was considered to be one of the greatest wines in Margaux Bordeaux for a very long time.
ver a hundred fifty years ago, they were classified at first growth; maybe not at the top of the tops but Margaux was a lonely Appalachian back then.
In my opinion there wasn’t really a lot of exciting stuff coming from Chateau Margaux until really just recently. Today you’ve got a lot of top level stuff coming from Margaux. Margala is a new property that we’ve just in the store; outstanding. Lostcomes had become one of the top wines in Margaux this century and a lot of other great stuff popping up: Kitneck Brown, Brine Kitneck, but Chateau Margaux is still at the top in Margaux. The top level of quality. This property was purchased in the late 70s. It had been fallen in disarray by the Megalopolis family and Karin, the daughter still runs it today and really, if you look at the great vintages of Margaux, you have 61, you have 59, which we showed at the Great Wine Seminar which Paul Pontier, the gentlemen that has run this property since 1983. Well he was brought on it in 83 to run it for – shortly after that he’s been the wine maker for one of the head guys. A really nice guy; one of the ultimate gentlemen of Bordeaux.
And we showed this property going back to 1950 including the 61. But now vintages in the 70s even though when the Megalopolis family took it over in the late 70s. In 78, it was immediately the first vintage. They were considered one of the greatest wines of the 78 vintage which was not considered a great vintage. Again in 79 and again in 1980 you could see that Margaux was again on the move and the people in charge now were willing to make the sacrifices monetarily and physically to make Margaux a great wine again. I’ve been to Chateau Margaux several times. The people there are always very accommodating and one of the big surprises for me at the Great Wine Seminar last year was the Pavillon Rouge at the Chateau Margaux and the white wine. The Pavillon Blanc, one of the greatest white wines made in the Margaux Appalachians. 100% Savion Blanc, this wine in 2006 was over 15% alcohol. Man, that is unreal. In Bordeaux you don’t see wines that are that alcoholic but you don’t notice it in this wine, incredible balance, incredible concentration, just wonderful melon, grapefruit, and almost like a lemon/oil kind of citrus to this wine.
Love the balance like I said for being so rich. You really don’t notice that it’s high alcohol. The Pavillon Rouge was created I think about the same time the Megalopolis family took over Chateau Margaux. This was to improve the quality and they actually make 16000/17000 cases of Pavillon Rouge to their 12000 cases of the first wine, Chateau Margaux and as I mentioned in previous emails, these great growths of the Medoc. The vineyards are not classified. They could make as much Chateau Margaux as they wanted to but they still have this high level of quality to adhere to and they can only come up with about 10000/12000 cases for this great growth of Margaux.
For more information on investment grade and vintage wines please visit us at www.interestinwine.co.uk
Today I'd like to talk about one of the greatest investments to come out of Bordeaux. One of the four original first growths. Some of the people don’t realize that back in 1855, Molten Rothschild was not classified as one of the first growths. As a matter of fact, it was the only property that was elevated from that original 1855 classification. Chateau Margaux was considered to be one of the greatest wines in Margaux Bordeaux for a very long time.
ver a hundred fifty years ago, they were classified at first growth; maybe not at the top of the tops but Margaux was a lonely Appalachian back then.
In my opinion there wasn’t really a lot of exciting stuff coming from Chateau Margaux until really just recently. Today you’ve got a lot of top level stuff coming from Margaux. Margala is a new property that we’ve just in the store; outstanding. Lostcomes had become one of the top wines in Margaux this century and a lot of other great stuff popping up: Kitneck Brown, Brine Kitneck, but Chateau Margaux is still at the top in Margaux. The top level of quality. This property was purchased in the late 70s. It had been fallen in disarray by the Megalopolis family and Karin, the daughter still runs it today and really, if you look at the great vintages of Margaux, you have 61, you have 59, which we showed at the Great Wine Seminar which Paul Pontier, the gentlemen that has run this property since 1983. Well he was brought on it in 83 to run it for – shortly after that he’s been the wine maker for one of the head guys. A really nice guy; one of the ultimate gentlemen of Bordeaux.
And we showed this property going back to 1950 including the 61. But now vintages in the 70s even though when the Megalopolis family took it over in the late 70s. In 78, it was immediately the first vintage. They were considered one of the greatest wines of the 78 vintage which was not considered a great vintage. Again in 79 and again in 1980 you could see that Margaux was again on the move and the people in charge now were willing to make the sacrifices monetarily and physically to make Margaux a great wine again. I’ve been to Chateau Margaux several times. The people there are always very accommodating and one of the big surprises for me at the Great Wine Seminar last year was the Pavillon Rouge at the Chateau Margaux and the white wine. The Pavillon Blanc, one of the greatest white wines made in the Margaux Appalachians. 100% Savion Blanc, this wine in 2006 was over 15% alcohol. Man, that is unreal. In Bordeaux you don’t see wines that are that alcoholic but you don’t notice it in this wine, incredible balance, incredible concentration, just wonderful melon, grapefruit, and almost like a lemon/oil kind of citrus to this wine.
Love the balance like I said for being so rich. You really don’t notice that it’s high alcohol. The Pavillon Rouge was created I think about the same time the Megalopolis family took over Chateau Margaux. This was to improve the quality and they actually make 16000/17000 cases of Pavillon Rouge to their 12000 cases of the first wine, Chateau Margaux and as I mentioned in previous emails, these great growths of the Medoc. The vineyards are not classified. They could make as much Chateau Margaux as they wanted to but they still have this high level of quality to adhere to and they can only come up with about 10000/12000 cases for this great growth of Margaux.
For more information on investment grade and vintage wines please visit us at www.interestinwine.co.uk
This post was written by: Franklin Manuel
Franklin Manuel is a professional blogger, web designer and front end web developer. Follow him on Twitter
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