Winter work

It is during the winter months that our vines are pruned, a crucial first step in their preparation for the coming vintage. In the early morning the sight of the frosty soil and vines, the cloudy skies and our vineyard workers braving the cold, is amazing.
In the cellars it is time to blend the 2016 vintage. At the Château, this process is taking longer and longer and is ever more accurate. In fact the new vats in the Foster cellar enable us to vinify many more plots separately, creating even more possible combinations. We have tasted and retasted nearly 400 different samples in order to envisage how each would best be integrated into the First Wine, the Pavillon Rouge or the Margaux du Château Margaux 2016.
The wines are delicious and it is always an absolute pleasure to taste such great Cabernet Sauvignons. The Cabernet Francs have a remarkable finesse and bring much more complexity to the blend than we had anticipated. The Petit Verdots were able to ripen perfectly and, despite their small quantity, give a great deal of density to our wines. The balance in the 2016 vintage is different to that of 2015: less alcohol and a little more acidity. Nevertheless, in terms of power, density, complexity and length, 2016 competes with the already illustrious 2015, which we are delighted about.