Photo Credit: Gilles de Beauchêne
There’s some big news coming out of Bordeaux today. Château Margaux, one of five wines to achieve Premier cru (first growth) status in the Bordeaux Classification of 1855, is releasing its second white wine.
Since the early 18th century, Château Margaux has produced an exceptional and unique white wine. Historically known as Château Margaux Vin Blanc de Sauvignon, it took its current name, Pavillon Blanc du Château Margaux, in 1920. But, being one of the most exclusive wine brands in the world, the estate is selective about the grapes harvested, and in recent years, has retained less than half of the harvest for the blending of the Pavillon Blanc du Château Margaux.
This drastic selection has been made possible through extensive analysis and understanding of the different soils in the plots of white grapes. As a result, the estate has been able to enhance its work in the vineyard, harvesting each plot at optimum ripeness, adapting the winemaking and aging to the different grapes harvested. This has resulted in a second selection of such high quality wine that the estate decided to bottle it, starting with the 2022 vintage.
Photo Credit: Gilles de Beauchêne
Made from 100% Sauvignon Blanc, like Pavillon Blanc du Château Margaux, and produced from the estate’s historic vines,
Pavillon Blanc Second Vin will be appreciated in its youth and will age well for at least 20 years. Pavillon Blanc Second Vin is only the fifth wine launched by the estate in five centuries and will be distributed by the wine merchants of the Place de Bordeaux.
So what is the wine like, you. might ask? Being that 2022 was the hottest and driest year on record for Château Margaux — three long and intense heatwaves followed one another during the summer, while more than six long weeks went by without a single drop of rain — the estate decided to start harvesting the white plots in August in order to preserve the freshness of the wines. The white harvest was thus the earliest in the estate’s history and gave birth to an amazing vintage producing wines with aromatic complexity and concentration. Pavillon Blanc Second Vin has a complex and floral nose leading to a creamy palate balanced by a fresh, saline finish. Only 8,000 bottles of Pavillon Blanc Second Vin were produced for this first vintage, with yields that were among the lowest in the estate’s history.
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