France · Margaux

Château Margaux

Château Margaux is the most architecturally and historically significant of the First Growths, its neoclassical château — designed by Louis Combes in 1810 and listed as a Monument Historique — forming the iconic image of the Médoc estate. The estate farms 78 hectares of red wine vines and 12 hectares of Sauvignon Blanc (the source of Pavillon Blanc, one of Bordeaux's finest dry whites) on thin gravel soils at the southern end of the Médoc. Cabernet Sauvignon dominates at approximately 75% of the red blend. The Mentzelopoulos family purchased the estate in 1977, initiating a comprehensive renaissance after years of mediocrity under the previous André Cazes ownership. André Pontallier served as estate director from 1983 until his death in 2016, overseeing the period of Margaux's greatest modern triumphs including the legendary 2009, 2010, and 2015 vintages. Philippe Bascaules succeeded Pontallier and has maintained the estate's trajectory. Margaux's signature is aromatic finesse: the thinnest gravel soils in the Médoc produce wines of extraordinary perfume — violets, roses, cassis — with a silkiness of texture and a delicacy that differentiates them from the more structured Pauillacs. The second wine, Pavillon Rouge, is consistently one of the finest second labels in Bordeaux. Pavillon Blanc, a pure Sauvignon Blanc aged partly in new oak, has become one of the most sought-after white Bordeaux at auction.