'The most improved wine in the entire Medoc'
'The up-and-coming star of the Medoc is, for me, Durfort-Vivens. In 2019 this is something of a revelation - the most improved wine in the entire Medoc and an object lesson in what respect for appellation and terroir-typicity can achieve. What I love about this wine most of all is that it couldn't possibly be mistaken for coming from any other appellation. It captures very beautifully the identity and soul of Margaux.'
Professor Colin Hay, The Drinks Business
In a coda to our 2019 Bordeaux en primeur campaign, we couldn't help but notice this Drinks Business article. Professor Colin Hay (of Sciences Po in Paris) is a specialist in the economics of wine (markets), and a brilliantly accomplished taster to boot; his reports from the region are often some of the first reliable indicators we get on a vintage. (They were especially useful this year). And in discussing the commune of Margaux, he rates Durfort-Vivens as 'the most improved wine in the entire Medoc'.
You may barely have noticed Durfort-Vivens; we don't ordinarily get much of it. But it's a chateau with history. In his travel diaries, Thomas Jefferson rated it alongside Lafite, Latour and Margaux. It was extremely popular in the 19th century, and was ranked as a second-growth in 1855. The 20th century wasn't so good. In the 1930s, it was bought by Margaux and used to make that chateau's second wine; in the 1960s, it was sold on, but without its chateau. For decades after, it struggled with makeshift winemaking facilities, and its reputation sagged. It wasn't until the 1990s and the arrival of Gonzague Lurton that things really took a turn for the better.
Gonzague Lurton's first big project was the construction of new, permanent facilities. Then, he transformed the farming regime, by adopting first organic, then biodynamic, viticulture. Where Durfort-Vivens led, Palmer followed. Biodynamics is a punishing approach, especially in the maritime climate of Bordeaux, and it can be very costly in terms of yield - but quality has soared. And in the cellar, clay amphorae have been introduced to mature a proportion of the wine - it means a fresher, purer style in the finished wine. Has it all been worth it? Gonzague Lurton thinks so, and has a beautiful 2019 to prove it. The style is pure Margaux: finesse and elegance over sheer power. /NT
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Offered subject to confirmation; for shipment 2022
