This was an era of financial survival for the Médoc, which was simultaneously struck down by the great worldwide recession, downy mildew, and phylloxera.

Downy mildew, another fungal disease of the vine, appeared soon after powdery mildew had been brought under control. This time, the remedy came in the form of copper sulphate spray, or the famous 'Bordeaux mixture'.

Phylloxera, an insect originating from the United States, was an even more terrible disease, and its spread became uncontrollable. The answer came in the grafting of French grape varieties onto resistant American rootstocks, which saved the whole of the Bordeaux vineyard.

The production of Château Margaux gradually returned to normal with the new sprays and plantations, and the 1893, which was a remarkable vintage, was so abundant that the harvest had to be interrupted because there were not enough vats! Its production even surpassed the legendary 1870, the greatest pre-phylloxera vintage.

The young vine plants coming from the new plantations, however, did not allow the estate to produce grapes of optimal quality, and so a part of the production was sold as a 'second wine', which was to be the future 'Pavillon Rouge du Château Margaux'. In 1896, Frédéric Pillet-Will found a man he could trust, in the person of Pierre Moreau, who would soon play a leading rôle at Margaux.

When Pillet-Will died, the estate went to his son-in-law, the Duke de la Trémoille, who had nevertheless been elected as a radical left wing Member of Parliament for Gironde.

However, he lost his seat in the 1910 election, which perhaps incited him to neglect his estate to help him forget about his ungrateful electorate.