Château Margaux

The château

Château Margaux was a first growth before there was a classification to say so. Thomas Jefferson had already put it among the 4 red vineyards of the first quality, with Lafite, Latour and Haut-Brion, in the notes of his journey through the south of France in 1787. William Franck, whose Traité sur les vins du Médoc first appeared in 1824, printed it that year at the top, at 2,300 to 2,400 francs the tonneau (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels), making 100 to 120 tonneaux under the marquis de La Colonilla, and his edition of 1845 recorded the 2 sales behind that line: to de La Colonilla in 1802 for 651,000 francs, and to Aguado in 1836 for 1,300,000. The house Bertrand Douat, marquis de La Colonilla, commissioned from Louis Combes went up between 1810 and 1815 and is a listed monument. By 1898 Cocks and Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, printed it at 225 tonneaux of grand vin (the estate’s first wine) and 40 of second wine, a line of its own only since 1886.

André Mentzelopoulos bought the château in 1977. His daughter Corinne took it over in 1980, and in 2023 her son Alexis Leven-Mentzelopoulos became chief executive, with Philippe Bascaules as managing director. In October 2026 the estate announced that Bascaules retires at the end of 2026, after 30 years at Margaux, and that Aurélien Valance, deputy managing director for sales and operations since 2016, succeeds him as managing director on December 1, 2026. The estate covers 265 hectares, about 100 of them in vines: around 87 hectares of red in production and 12 of white, all Sauvignon Blanc. The soil is Quaternary gravel, sand and clay laid down by the Garonne over tertiary limestone and clay, with the deepest gravel on what geologists call the Type 4 terrace. Densities run from 6,666 to 10,000 vines a hectare; the red vines average 35 years, with some rows from 1951, and the white 50, the oldest planted in 1970. Cabernet Sauvignon holds 78 of the 141 plots.

The grand vin runs to some 120,000 bottles and spends about 21 months in new French oak. Pavillon Rouge has carried its name since the 1906 vintage, at about 100,000 bottles; Pavillon Blanc, named in 1920, runs to about 12,000, and a third red, Margaux du Château Margaux, follows. The 2014, which I drank in June 2025, was still youthful at 11 years, red and black fruit, graphite, cassis and a floral note on fine, silky tannins, proof that a quiet vintage at a First Growth is a very good buy. And the 2025, tasted at the château in April 2026, joined density to finesse, perfumed and fresh, creamy in texture, with a long finish: a serious candidate for wine of the vintage.

At a glance

Appellation

Margaux

Classification

Premier Cru Classé 1855; Michelin Guide, 2 grapes (2026)

Owners

The Mentzelopoulos family, since 1977

Direction

Alexis Leven-Mentzelopoulos, chief executive, since 2023; Philippe Bascaules, managing director until the end of 2026; Aurélien Valance, managing director from December 1, 2026

Vineyard

About 87 hectares of red and 12 of white in production, on an estate of 265 hectares; 6,666 to 10,000 vines a hectare

Soil

Deep Garonne gravel on the Type 4 terrace, over tertiary limestone and clay Terroir of Margaux →

Grapes

Cabernet Sauvignon in 78 of 141 plots, with Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot; the white 100% Sauvignon Blanc

Cellar

About 21 months in new French oak

Production

About 120,000 bottles of the grand vin, 100,000 of Pavillon Rouge, 12,000 of Pavillon Blanc

Wines

Château Margaux; Pavillon Rouge; Margaux du Château Margaux; Pavillon Blanc

The house

Built from 1810 to 1815 by Louis Combes; a listed monument

In history

A first growth for Franck in 1824, at 100 to 120 tonneaux; sold in 1802 and 1836