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Wine Description
The Story
Since the 17th Century, the first wine of Château Margaux has been recognised as being one of the greatest wines in the entire world. It owes its unique qualities to the genius of its terroir as well as to the passionate work of a succession of generations. It’s a remarkable wine that comes from a combination of characteristics that are only rarely found: finesse, elegance, complexity, density, intensity, length and freshness. Although its tannic concentration may be exceptional, it’s rare to detect astringency.
The great vintages are distinguished by their formidable ability to move us. The lesser vintages give pleasure to wise enthusiasts. They offer the advantage of evolving very rapidly and, reveal, after a few years, instead of power, this subtlety that is the prerogative of great terroirs. Château Margaux has an extraordinary ability to evolve. Over the years, it has developed a finesse, an aromatic complexity and a remarkable presence on the palate.
Château Margaux has sought to achieve excellence in its wines for over 400 years now through painstaking and necessarily long studies of its terroir, through a constant desire to learn and innovate, by remaining sensitive to demanding markets, and above all through a passionate commitment that has been shared by the families that have succeeded each other at the estate. At the end of the 17th century, it became part of the nascent elite “First Growths” – long before being established officially by the Classification of 1855. Since then, Château Margaux has known fame and fortune, seeing by experience how ephemeral both are.
The estate has 200 acres under vine. Each plot and each variety are treated differently from pruning throughout the growing season. Chateau Margaux’ goal is to nurture and maintain vines for as long as possible, as they believe vines need to reach 20 years of age to produce great wine. The estate is constantly trying to understand through experimentation how to improve soil health and fruit quality. Today, no insecticides are used, there is an important balance of healthy insects to counter pests, and any number of experiments with ploughing, organic farming, and biodynamic applications are ongoing. A final key point to note, Margaux has for the last 30+ years had among the lowest yields in the Medoc.
The wine was aged for 15 months, in 10% new oak and 90% second use barrels. Because of the particularities of the vintage, Cabernet Sauvignon made up an extremely high 88% of the blend, with Merlot only 12% of the blend. Importantly, the wine is held in bottle until ready to drink, which may not mean that vintages are released sequentially.
Wine Information
Ah, 1929 ! That legend of vintages that will always be remembered as the year of the century. Its reputation was made all the more glorious by the fact that immediately after, the 1930s were really catastrophic, and then war broke out… It was not until 1945 that anything comparable in quality was produced. It was only a space of sixteen years, but everyone had the genuine impression that it had been a century... Château Margaux 1929 is indeed a marvellous wine, whose bottles have unfortunately become inconsistent. We had the opportunity, a few years ago, to open a few at the same time. Around one out of three was in decline, another was fine, but a bit tired, and the last one... just marvellous ! An incomparable, indescribable finesse; a silky, long, delicate feeling on the palate... Sheer happiness…
A hot and extremely dry year, the driest up till then that century. It rained a little during the harvest, then the fine weather came back and stayed until the end. (The picking began on 26th September)
by Château Margaux
Vintage 1929
The year 1929 was an extraordinary year in the Bordeaux vineyards as well as on Wall Street. When the U.S. stock market collapsed in 1929, it produced several undesirable effects abroad, particularly in Europe, where many countries had not fully recovered from the aftermath of World War I. In Germany, the economic disaster and resulting social dislocation contributed to the rise of Adolf in the United States, there were 16 million unemployed – about a third of the available labor force.
In Bordeaux, the 1929 is one of the “legendary” vintages of the century. Its reputation was made even greater as the 1930s were truly a disastrous decade, and it wasn't until 1945 that anything of equivalent quality was made. In Bordeaux, these sixteen years were one of the longest “dark periods” of the 20th century. The year 1929 was extremely hot and dry, the driest since the turn of the century. It only rained for a short time during harvest, but the nice warm weather returned. The grapes became very concentrated, rich in tannins and produced wine to last.
Recommended glass shape
Average Bottle Price
2014 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2005 | 2000 | 1995 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 377€ -8.4% | 1 503€ +16.6% | 1 289€ -20.5% | 1 622€ +95.7% | 829€ +113.1% | 389€ +14.1% | 341€ |