Chateau Margaux 2016

The property was known as "La Mothe de Margaux" since the 12th century. La Mothe translate to hill or mound. Not much occurred on the wine side until in 1572 when Pierre Lestonnac acquired the property. In the following 10 years, he abandoned grown cereal grains and planted vines. Chateau Margaux separate itself from all other Chateaux in the early 18th Century. A man named Berlon employed some visionary tactics to increase the quality of the wine. He vinified red and white grapes separately. He ceased harvesting grapes in the morning so there would not be any dew on the grapes thus diluting the wine and finally he recognized the importance of the different plots of land and the grapes to plant in each. Soon Chateau Margaux was at the table of the Ruling elite including the English Prime Minister and Thomas Jefferson. As with most estates during the French Revolution, the estate was taken by the revolutionaries and sold. Laure de Fumel who was a descendant of Pierre Lestonnac purchased the property. In the early 1800s, Bertrand Douat, Marquis de la Colonilla purchased the estate and promptly decide the house was not glorious enough for him, so he had the current Chateau built. The Marquis was 70 before construction began so it was inevitable that the estate would change change shortly. During the 1855 Classification, Chateau Margaux was the only wine that received a marking of 20 out of 20. The estate passed into the hands of Count Pillet-Will. The Counts' addition to the history of Chateau Margaux was to start declassifying young vines into a second wine in 1908. In 1950, The Ginestet family acquired the estate. Their negoiciant business floundered in the early 1970s and they were forced to sell the chateau in 1977 to Andre Mentzelopoulos, whos daughter still controls the estate today.
The size of the estate is 262 hectares although only 80 hectares are planted for red wine production. The average age of vines is kept close to 35 years old but there are several Cabernet Sauvignon parcels that are 80 years old. Some Merlot and Petit Verdot parcels are nearly 60 years old. Since 2017, The Grand Vin is 100% farmed organic and the a large portion of the the second wine is also.