From La Mothe de Margaux to 1855

The estate was known from the twelfth century as La Mothe de Margaux, after a slight rise in the land, before any vines grew there. Between 1572 and 1582 Pierre de Lestonnac reorganised the property and its vineyard. By the end of the seventeenth century it covered 265 hectares, a size it has kept, with about a third under vines. A steward named Berlon began to vinify red and white grapes apart and refused to pick in the morning dew. After the Revolution the marquis de La Colonilla bought the estate and had the Bordeaux architect Louis Combes build the present château, begun in 1810. In the classification drawn up by the Bordeaux brokers in 1855, Château Margaux was one of four first growths, with Lafite, Latour and Haut-Brion. The estate says it was the only one given full marks, twenty out of twenty. It also says it made bottling at the château compulsory in 1925, a guarantee of authenticity for buyers.

The Mentzelopoulos years

André Mentzelopoulos, born in Greece and owner of the Félix Potin grocery chain, bought the château from the Ginestet family in 1977. He drained and replanted the vineyard. With the oenologist Émile Peynaud, he brought in ageing in new barrels, revived Pavillon Rouge with a much stricter selection and redefined Pavillon Blanc. He also planned what the estate calls the first large underground cellar in the region. He died in 1980, and his daughter Corinne took over at the age of 27. Paul Pontallier, who had joined in 1983, was managing director from 1990 until his death in 2016. Philippe Bascaules, who had worked beside him from 1990 to 2011, succeeded him in 2017. In 2015, for the bicentenary of the château, new buildings by Norman Foster opened beside the historic cellars. In 2023 Corinne handed over to her children: Alexis became manager of the estate, and Alexandra chair of the supervisory board of the holding company.

Gravel, Cabernet and a strict selection

Of the 265 hectares, about 87 are red vines and 12 white, among meadows, woods and parkland. Deep gravel dominates, above all on the type 4 terrace typical of the appellation, which drains well and lets roots go deep. The estate counts 126 plots, and Cabernet Sauvignon fills 72 of them, beside Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Density runs from 6,666 to 10,000 vines per hectare, and the historic red plot, Le Cuvier, was planted in 1951. The estate says it was the first in the Médoc to thin bunches, in 1986. Mating disruption, brought in at the end of the 1990s, let it stop using insecticides. The red harvest starts with Merlot and ends with Petit Verdot, and each picker sorts the bunches before a second team sorts again. In the cellar, the estate kept its wooden vats and added steel ones. Each winter the team tastes about a hundred lots to build the blends. The reds are fined with egg whites and racked without pumps, with a candle to check their clarity.

Three reds and two whites

The grand vin, Château Margaux, takes about forty percent of the harvest after a strict selection. Led by Cabernet Sauvignon, with Merlot, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc, it spends around twenty-one months in new French oak. Pavillon Rouge was first sold as the château's second wine and has carried its present name since the 1906 vintage. It comes from vines mostly as old as those of the grand vin, worked by the same teams. The estate puts Cabernet Sauvignon at about 75 to 80 percent of its blend. It ages for about twenty months, close to 60 percent in new oak. Since the 2009 vintage a third red, Margaux du Château Margaux, has been bottled instead of sold in bulk. Pavillon Blanc, pure Sauvignon Blanc, has carried its name since 1920. It ages for eight months, about a fifth in new oak, and has been sealed with a Diam closure since the 2017 vintage. A second white, Pavillon Blanc Second Vin, has been bottled since the 2022 vintage.

Reading the label and keeping

Margaux is the name of both the estate and the appellation. The Margaux appellation was recognised in 1954, covers four communes and holds 21 of the 61 reds ranked in 1855, more than any other appellation. The grand vin carries the estate's name alone, while the other reds add a name before it: Pavillon Rouge du Château Margaux, Margaux du Château Margaux. The appellation covers red wine only, so Pavillon Blanc is sold as Bordeaux. The estate advises a cellar at about 14°C with 75 to 80 percent humidity. It says its wines show great aromatic finesse after fifteen to twenty years while keeping their freshness, and that great vintages last for decades. It says Pavillon Rouge can keep for thirty to forty years, depending on the vintage. Young reds gain from a wide decanter, while old ones go into a narrow one, mainly to leave the deposit behind. Serve the reds at 18 to 19°C and Pavillon Blanc at 10 to 13°C.

The bottles above are the wines of Château Margaux in our cellar. For the rest of the region, see our Bordeaux wines. Older bottles appear among our mature wines, collector wines and old and rare vintages.