Pavillon Rouge Chateau Margaux 2001

Item No.: 11

Region:

Bordeaux 

Type:

red 

Category:

Second Vin Chateau Margaux 

Manufacturer:

Chateau Margaux 

Vintage:

2001 

Alcohol Volume:

13% 

Color:

red 

Unit Size:

750 ml, 

Price:

€ 140.00 

Chateau Margaux in JulieAnnie store

Of all the first growths Margaux is certainly a strong contender for being the most splendid, the imposing 19th Century chateau, peering over the chai, barrel cellars and other buildings, easily visible from the D2, the road that snakes up the Médoc past the front doors of many of the classed growths. It stands proud, surrounded by broad sweeps of vines, the only challenge being from Chateau Palmer, which is visible in the distance, its pointed rooftops stretching skywards in marked contrast to the more sombre style of Margaux. It is a regal chateau indeed, and certainly fitting in view of the quality of the wines that have been made here over the last couple of decades.

The history of Chateau Margaux stretches back to the 12th Century, although this predates the construction of the building that we see today by about seven centuries. At this time it was in the ownership of French nobility, and was known La Mothe de Margaux; 'La Mothe' comes from motte, meaning a small rise in the land, yet another example of the seemingly infinite different number of words that describe such hillocks on the Médoc. Perhaps of more pertinence, this also predates the arrival of viticulture at Margaux, the land more commonly being employed in the production of sugar beet, as was common across much of this part of Bordeaux. It was not until the Lestonnac family took possession of the estate in the 16th Century that it began to resemble the Chateau Margaux that we know today. In the ten years that followed 1572, Pierre Lestonnac, in anticipation of a widespread change from arable agriculture to viticulture on the Médoc, made his mark in a most dramatic fashion. By the beginning of the 18th Century Chateau Margaux comprised 265 ha, of which one third was devoted to viticulture. Today the estate has changed very little in size or layout.
The early 18th Century saw more improvements of considerable significance at Chateau Margaux, led principally by the estate manager Berlon. These changes may at first seem surprising, as today they sound like common sense, but at the time these were brave new ideas. Berlon counselled against picking wet grapes, so as to avoid dilution; he recognised that certain plots produced better fruit than others, recognising the varied terroir of his estate; and he began to vinify red and white grapes separately - they had previously all been vinified together. The wine improved in quality dramatically, as demonstrated in 1771 when it was the first claret to ever be sold at Christie's. In addition, Thomas Jefferson, the American ambassador, oenophile and later President, was an acolyte and purchased the 1784. Margaux was on a high, and successive owners kept quality to the fore at Margaux, including Joseph de Fumel and Elie du Barry, but Margaux saw an end to its good fortune when the latter saw his end under the guillotine following the Revolution. The estate came to the citizen Miqueau who paid it little attention, and it fell into disrepair. It was subsequently rescued from total dilapidation by Laure de Fumel, Joseph's niece, but she was soon forced to sell, and in 1801 the estate was purchased by the Marquis de la Colonilla, Bertrand Douat.

Colonilla had little interest in wine or Margaux, and lived in Paris rather than Bordeaux. He was a Basque, and arrived in France having already made his fortune; for him, ownership of such a grand property was intended to assist his social advancement. To that effect, the manor house which had already replaced the original fortified building was deemed inadequate, and it was torn down and replaced with the grand chateau, as designed by the leading architect of the day, Louis Combes. This building, which still stands today, was Colonilla's only major contribution to Margaux, and it is one that he saw little of himself. Work began in 1810, when Colonilla was already in his eighth decade, and he died 26 years later, before the chateau was completed. His death once again prompted the sale of the estate, as his descendants had little interest in taking it on. The new owner this time was the Marquis de la Marismas, Alexandre Aguado, another Spaniard. Unlike Colonilla, Aguado regarded Margaux as a residence and he had a deep interest in the estate and its wines. Aguado and his family saw the estate through the powdery mildew crisis of the 19th Century, and the 1855 classification, when it should go without saying that Margaux was comfortably ranked as a first growth.

The Aguado family subsequently sold Chateau Margaux to Frédéric Pillet-Will, and it was he who was in charge when Phylloxera ravaged the estate, not to mention the rest of Bordeaux and all French vineyards, in the late 19th Century. The solution was to replant on American rootstock which, when this became widely accepted, was a task Pillet-Will undertook. The quality of the wine thereafter, for many possible reasons, was not always as good as might be expected, and it was at this time that a second wine, the forerunner of today's Pavillon Rouge de Chateau Margaux, was introduced. Frédéric's good intentions meant little to his children, however, as after his death the estate suffered serious neglect. Nevertheless a group led by Pierre Moreau, a trusted friend of Frédéric Pillet-Will, formed a committee of purchasing shareholders in order to take over the ownership and running of Margaux. This arrangement worked well, and they tended the estate through the first half of the 20th Century, their most significant contribution to the Margaux of today being the introduction of chateau bottling, contemporaneous with the exact same change being implemented by Baron Philip de Rothschild at Chateau Mouton-Rothschild. This era of committee-led ownership came to a gradual end in the first half of the 20th Century, however, as Fernand Ginestet and his son, Pierre, gradually acquired more and more of the available shares in Chateau Margaux. Finally, with the financial backing of Boylandry, Mayor of Saigon, they purchased the property outright in 1949. Sadly for the Ginestets, however, they had taken on too much. Chateau Margaux was trading on its reputation, and the intrinsic quality of the wines fell off dramatically during the 1960s and 1970s. They held onto the reins here for a little over two decades, but the Bordeaux crisis of the early 1970s, with several disastrous vintages, forced them into selling Chateau Margaux. This is the point at which the Mentzelopoulos family enters the fray.

Greek by birth, André Mentzelopoulos had travelled far, and become a wealthy man on the back of trading cereals in India, Pakistan and the Far East. Upon arriving in France in 1958 he purchased a small chain of grocery stores, and proceeded to built the company into a massive supermarket chain with over 1600 outlets. In 1977, when Margaux had already been languishing on the market for two years, he bought it from the Ginestet family. In a time of economic depression for Bordeaux, it was testament to Mentzelopoulos' commitment that he invested heavily with no expectation for short-term reward. He installed new drainage and replanted vines, reintroduced the use of a second wine to aid quality, constructed a new underground cellar, a remarkable achievement in the flat landscape of the Médoc where few cellars are truly subterranean, and purchased new oak barrels. The chateau was also renovated. What a tragedy then that André Mentzelopoulos, whose arrival in the region as an outsider had caused mutterings of controversy, only for him to be gladly accepted into the Bordeaux fold, died so soon after in 1980, long before he could taste the full fruits of his labours. The family business, and Chateau Margaux, came to his daughter, Corrine Mentzelopoulos, at a very tender age. With the aid of general manager Philip Barré, and esteemed consultant Professor Emile Peynaud, she and the Margaux team continued with the program of improvements. In 1983 they were joined by Barré's replacement, Paul Pontallier, who has also been instrumental in the quest for even greater wines from the hallowed terroir that surrounds the chateau. The reward for wine drinkers has been exceptional; today, Margaux is no longer an under-achiever. Corinne has also been amply rewarded; in 2003 she was able to purchase the majority stake in Margaux held until that time by the Agnelli Group, and thus she became the sole owner of a very successful first growth estate.

Today the estate is spread over 262 hectares, with 87 hectares entitled to the Margaux appellation; 82 hectares are under vine. Many of the vines lie on the gravelly terroir around the grand chateau, although there are other patches, including a plot on the right of the D2 as you drive north away from Margaux, and also a 12 hectare plot further inland which is given over solely to white grapes. All four common red Bordeaux varieties are planted, these being Cabernets Sauvignon (75%) and Franc (about 3%), Merlot (20%) and Petit Verdot (about 2%), whereas the white vineyards are planted solely with Sauvignon Blanc. The vines average 36 years of age. The soils are gravelly, with a clay subsoil known as Calcaire de Plassac.

The wines are fermented in oak vats, and on visiting the property at Chateau Margaux I was informed the wines see no temperature control during fermentation, although this is contrary to my preconceptions, as well as other sources concerning Margaux, and I think I might take this possible misinformation with the proverbial pinch of salt. A little cynicism can sometimes be helpful when visiting even such hallowed properties as Margaux. The wine is then run off into vats or barrels, the latter being constructed onsite in the Margaux cooperage which is situated next to the barrel cellars in the buildings that surround the chateau. The red wines see up to two years maturation in oak, the whites up to six months, and they are fined using egg whites prior to bottling, the bottles subsequently laser etched to act as a marker of authenticity and traceability. There are generally 12500 cases of the grand vin, Chateau Margaux, produced each year. The second wine Pavillon Rouge du Chateau Margaux has a greater production, typically 16500 cases. These figures are considerably larger than those for Pavillon Blanc du Chateau Margaux, which is harvested at about 30 hl/ha and has a typical production of just 2750 cases. In addition lesser wine is sold off in bulk.