Restaurant

A Beginner’s Guide to Chateau Margaux | Bordeaux Wines

A Beginner’s Guide to Chateau Margaux

You can’t call yourself a wine connoisseur if you haven’t got a good knowledge of Chateau Margaux! An icon of Bordeaux, producing some of the finest wines in the world – and with natural beauty and history to match, few wine estates can measure up to this royal chateau. Let’s take a look at the history and wines that make Chateau Margaux so exceptional.

A Dip into History

Chateau Margaux dates back almost 1,000 years to when it was known as La Mothe de Margaux. Reserved for the use of royalty, it was owned by a succession of blue bloods. When it was taken over by the Lestonnac family, it started the journey to becoming one of the finest wine estates in the world, moving from growing grain to growing grapes by 1582. As an estate, it has remained fairly unchanged for centuries, with the same 80 acres of vines as it had in 1700.

It’s also the home of modern winemaking, with Barlon becoming the first winemaker to vinify red and white grapes separately! He also introduced the concept of harvesting fruit in the afternoon to gain the most flavour and worked with the terroir to see how soil and mineral content influenced the quality ad characteristics of different wines.

Today, the chateau practices organic and biodynamic farming and has an incredible wine laboratory, bottle library, and tasting room onsite.

Chateau Margaux Wines

These wines are well-regarded for their deep, ruby-red colour, notes of violets and lilac, and softly silken tannins. Their stand-out characteristic is their refinement and elegance, and they are full-bodied with high acidity.

This chateau is the southernmost appellation in the Médoc, located on Bordeaux’s famous Left Bank. The terroir is the most diverse of the region, with the soil featuring large deposits of gravel, limestone and pebbles, with very little clay. It’s also the warmest of the Left Bank appellations, so it’s the first to go to harvest. Because of this variability, these wines have the greatest range of flavour and quality.

The climate and terroir of Chateau Margaux make it ideal for growing Cabernet Sauvignon, although Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot are also present. The vines range to an average of 35 years, with some 80-year-old vines still producing. The wines they produce age very well and are best after 15 years of age, with most wines peaking between 18 and 60 years.

It is best served at 15.5 degrees Celsius, paired with classic meat dishes including game or Asian dishes, rich pasta, and seafood dishes.

For wines with this degree of history, legacy, and quality, the most important part of preserving its value and enjoying it is in storing it exceptionally well. Justerini& Brooks offers a fantastic wine storage service where your bottle is stored by specialists in ideal conditions and is made accessible to you when it’s required. This way, you get the exact bottle of Chateau Margaux you purchased, in perfect condition. What more could a wine connoisseur want?

Related Articles

Back to top button