Château Margaux

Château Margaux has a long and storied history stretching back over five centuries. Their reputation for producing outstanding, long-lived red Bordeaux goes back to the 18th century, when their wines were highly sought-after in Britain — Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole reputedly bought four barrels per quarter.

The wines of the Château are celebrated for their elegance and multilayered complexity, with violet floral and acacia aromatics and intense spiced cassis fruit flavours.

Château Margaux’s reputation for producing wines of the highest quality was such that it took the name of the wider Margaux appellation and remains the only Bordeaux wine estate to do so. Château Margaux was classified as one of the four First Growths in the 1855 Classification of the Médoc for the Universal Exhibition.

The Mentzelopoulos family has been at the helm of the Estate since 1977, when the previous owners, the Ginestet family, sold the property to André Mentzelopoulos. André invested heavily in the Château, restoring the stunning, often-photographed Neo-Palladian building. In the vineyards, new drainage systems were installed, new vines were planted, and improvements were made in the cellar.

The high-quality reputation of Château Margaux was rapidly re-established after the downturn in fortunes for the Estate and Bordeaux in general in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Today, André’s daughter Corinne Mentzelopoulos is owner and CEO, ably assisted by her daughter Alexandra and her son Alexis.

The majority of the vineyards are on deep gravel and gravely clay-limestone soils which are ideally suited to Cabernet Sauvignon. Merlot is planted on soils which have higher content of clay and limestone. The diversity of soils contributes to the complexity and depth of their wines.

Château Margaux's Grand Vin, which is typically a blend of at least 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, with between 5% to 10% of Merlot and around 2% each of Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc, is aged for between 18 to 24 months in new medium-toast oak barriques, many of which are made by the estate’s own cooper.

As well as their superb second red wine, Pavillon Rouge, Château Margaux also produce a thrilling white called Pavillon Blanc, from 100% Sauvignon Blanc with limited production of only on average 10,000 bottles per annum.

There have been many moments of startling brilliance, such as the exceptional legendary 1784 vintage that wooed Thomas Jefferson, along with stunning wines produced in 1893, 1900, 1929, 1945, 1949, 1953, 1955, 1959 and 1961.

Since the Mentzelopoulos family took over in the late 1970s, the wines have been on exceptional form; the top vintages from the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and onwards are nothing short of spectacular. Superlative wines were produced in the following vintages, 1982, 1983, 1986, 1990, 1996, 2000, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019.

Of the vintages that appear regularly at Christie’s auctions, the most highly sought-after are the monumental 1900, 1945, 1947, 1953, 1982, 1990, 1996, 2005, 2009 and 2010 vintages.