Chateau Margaux 2012
Chateau Margaux 2012, It’s amazing when you realize that the birth of what we know of as Chateau Margaux dates back almost 1,000 years! In the 12th century, the property was known under the name of “La Mothe de Margaux,” which was reserved for use by royalty. However, vineyards were not yet part of the estate in those days.
The successive owners of La Mothe de Margaux were various people of noble birth. When the Lestonnac family took over, the estate started resembling the property we know as Chateau Margaux today. Pierre de Lestonnac, in a ten year period, from 1572 to 1582 restructured the property and moved it from growing grain to producing Bordeaux wine.
The vineyards of Chateau Margaux were fully developed in the 1600’s by the d’Auledes family. By the end of the 17th century, the estate of Chateau Margaux grew to 265 hectares. One third of that acreage was cultivated for grapes to produce wine.
The pursuit of excellence has always led Château Margaux to produce a second wine, which took the name of Pavillon Rouge du Château Margaux in 1908. Our demands have never ceased to strengthen and led to the creation of a third batch of wine as from 1997. Over the years, the selection has become more and more rigorous, thus improving the quality of Pavillon Rouge and consequently, that of the third wine.
The exceptional quality of the 2009 vintage and our wish to take advantage of it, have enabled us to produce a third wine of a standard never previously attained. It seemed a pity to us to sell it in bulk as we had done until then… We aged it in barrels with the same care as Pavillon Rouge and bottled it after fifteen months, thus giving birth to the first vintage of Margaux du Château Margaux.
Of course, the production of this wine being limited, Margaux du Château Margaux will only be available at first in a small selection of restaurants within Château Margaux’s traditional markets : in France and the United Kingdom since September 2013 and will become available in Japan and the United States between now and the beginning of 2014.