User:Murgh/Margaux AOC

Margaux is an AOC for wine made in the area surrounding the commune of Margaux in the Bordeaux wine region of southwestern France, on the Left Bank of Dordogne. Vineyards are located 32 km   kilometers to the northwest of Bordeaux, near.

Margaux, Cantenac, Soussans, Arsac and Labarde

Of the estates falling within the Margaux borders, a majority were included in the Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855 and the (eventually discontinued) classification Cru Bourgeois.

The appellation, which stretches out over five communes, uniquely in the Médoc contains the entire range of wines, from First Cru Classé to Fifth, Crus Bourgeois and Crus Artisans.

History
Vines first appeared in Margaux during the Gallo-Roman period. The name is said to be given by the 4th century poet and governor of Gaul, Ausonius, derived from Marojallia, or Thermae Mariolicae, depending on sources.

The region enjoyed a great reputation long before the 1855 classification recognized 21 estates of Margaux as Crus Classés, but with the founding of Institut National des Appellations d'Origine (INAO) in 1935, Margaux did not initially an the regulations of autonomous appellation.

The mayor of Margaux brought a law suit against a proprietor of a Soussans estate, claiming that the soil of his property did not share the true soil of Margaux, and should not be permitted use of the place-name. As the legal process was won, not only this property, but the entire commune od Soussans was ousted from the appellation. Similar rulings followed this precedence, denying use of the name to Arsac, Labarde and Cantenac, which caused a regional crisis in that a big number of estates had some property that fell outside the revised core perimeter, and a few had great interest in exclusive rights to a famous place-name. After 20 years of tense deadlock, it was decided in 1953 that since the name could not be applied to its rightful limits, no wine may use the name; not even Château Margaux could call itself Margaux. All parties brought to the table, the INAO decree of August 10 1954 set the conditions that in order to claim use of the appellation, yields and methods must be observed to a norm of regulations, soils need be ascertained by INAO, and the wine satisfactorily pass an anonymous commission taste test.

Margaux AOC
The area covers 1410 hectares, 8.5% of the Médoc total, annually producing on average 78,000 hectolitres of wine.

The soil, composed of a plateau of gravel and silt based on a layer of limestone or silt with clay, from the weather, which is tempered by the proximity of the Gironde Estuary, and from natural drainage. There is also extensive use of drainage channels and ditches, allowing for use of the land which would otherwise have the characteristics of a swamp.

The INAO specifiactions demand the following production norms: a high planting density, a minimum of 6,500 plants per hectare, and minimum of sugar, 178 g per litre of must, maximum base yield of 45 hecolitre per hectare, and a minimum alcohol by volume of 10.5%.

It also states that vines must come from the commune of Margaux, Cantenac, Soussans, Arsac and Labarde, "excluding the land which by the nature of its soil or because of its situation, is unfit to produce wine of this appellation".

Estates
Of the the 74 viticultural properties of Margaux, 21 are crus classés and 20 Crus Bourgeois.

Notes and references
a.   Cru Bourgeois as a term of classification since 1932, was annulled in 2007.


 * General


 * Margaux Bordeaux.com, Le Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux (CIVB)
 * Maragux AOC decree, INAO


 * Footnotes

Margaux Vignoble de Margaux Margaux (wijngemeente)