Chateau des Graviers Margaux 2019
(Bordeaux, France)

There is truly no Bordeaux like Margaux, and to find a grower in this special appellation whose sensibilities align with our own is no easy task. We were overjoyed, then, to encounter Christophe Landry’s Château des Graviers, in the commune of Arsac. The fifth generation of his family to work the vine in Margaux, Christophe took over operations at Graviers in 1995, gradually expanding from six hectares to the 18 hectares the estate encompasses today, and converting fully to biodynamic viticulture. His rigorous approach to farming and his thoughtful, rather complex cellar regimen yield Margaux of intensely vivid, supple fruit supported by honest yet ultra-fine tannins and exquisitely etched minerality. The supreme elegance one reads about in textbooks yet so rarely encounters in more muscular versions of the appellation is on full display in Christophe’s wines.

For his flagship Margaux, Christophe vinifies each variety and each parcel separately, adopting different vinification techniques based on the cépage, and all fermentations occur spontaneously. Comprising all six red grape varieties allowed in the region, this blends just over 60% Cabernet Sauvignon with around 25% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc, 4% each Malbec and Petit Verdot, and 2% Carmenère. It spends 18 months mostly in 225-liter barriques (25% of which are new), with some 600-liter tonneaux, and the occasional clay jar and concrete hexagon. The finished wine displays gorgeous harmony, with taut red fruits mingling with a mouthcoating sense of river rocks, and a just-so level of extraction that holds the wine together without contributing any hardness. Certified organic.