Château Mongravey 2007 Tasting Notes

Margaux 2003

This is our first vintage from Château Mongravey, the super-ripe 2003. Who can forget the breathless heat of that scorching summer? Certainly not the winemakers of France, for it tested their skill to the limit. Those winemakers who gave up their summer holiday, kept daily watch in their vineyards and then harvested earlier than they had ever done before produced outstanding wines. Quality was not uniform, but if our winemaker Régis Bernaleau was worried he didn’t show it. However, the smile on his face before the harvest was not in anticipation of a fabulous vintage. In the first reclassification of the wines of Bordeaux in almost 150 years his château had just been elevated to the status of cru bourgeois. This had been his ambition since he inherited a small vineyard from his father in 1980 and to achieve it as the result of a reorganisation that demoted 215 châteaux and elevated just 18 was certainly something to smile about. The harvest of 2003 at Mongravey was therefore a time to celebrate – and what celebration wines they produced! We entered two of Régis’ wines in the International Wine Challenge last year, and both of them won Gold Medals. A great result when you consider that this is the largest and most prestigious blind wine tasting in the world, and the entire region of Bordeaux was awarded only ten Gold Medals.

The first of these Gold Medal wines was our exclusive cuvée of Margaux made from a blend of hand-picked Cabernet Sauvignon (70%) and Merlot (30%) grapes, which were completely de-stemmed before undergoing a temperature-controlled fermentation in stainless steel vats. There then followed 18 months’ maturation in French oak barrels, 55% of which were new. Also, the barrels came from ten different suppliers and this contributed an extra degree of complexity to the finished wine. Although it will continue to develop in bottle for 15 years or more if carefully cellared, this vintage is delicious to drink now thanks to its combination of super-ripe fruit, supple tannins and round, mouth-watering acidity.

Whether this wine is sipped by itself or saved for a special occasion you will not be disappointed. If you are looking for the ‘right’ food with which to enjoy it we simply suggest you pick something you like. However, the 2003 will go particularly well with rich-flavoured foods such as foie gras, pheasant, venison, beef Wellington, tournedos, and perhaps best of all – roast lamb. Bon appétit!