Chateau Margaux is in the Bordeaux commune of Margaux on the left bank of the Gironde River. The wines made in Margaux are some of the most feminine in style of all Bordeaux wines. Among the wines of Margaux, the wines of Chateau Margaux are the best of all of those. From their perfumed nose to their lithe complexities, they are wines that reflect their terroir in a most elegant way. The history of Chateau Margaux can be traced back at least to the twelfth century when it was known as “La Mothe de Margaux” from motte meaning a small rise in the land. Sometime during the 16th century, the first grape vines were planted under the direction of Pierre de Lastonnac. Within the next hundred years, Chateau Margaux expanded to cover 654 acres, approximately one-third of that with grape vines. In the 1700s, an estate manager named Berlon introduced many “new” improvements. Today, his ideas are common sense, but back then they were radical. Ideas such as not picking grapes when they were wet and vinifying the red and white grapes separately led to a much higher quality of wine. The result was evident as by 1771 the wines of Margaux were featured in the catalogues of Christie’s. Around that time, America’s first wine lover, Thomas Jefferson, rated Chateau Margaux as the top wine in Bordeaux. His meticulous records document an order he placed in 1784.
