In our tasting today Master of Wine, David Allen – Wine-Searcher-s Wine Director continues his look at some Well priced red Bordeaux wines from the 2019 vintage. Today he looks at the wine from an important Margaux estate – Château Labégorce
Château Labégorce is situated on the plateau just north of the town of Margaux, due north of Château Lascombes and northwest of Château Margaux itself. Divided into three estates following the French Revolution and reunified by billionaire Hubert Perrodo in the early 21st Century, the estate makes several wines with the grand vin usually a Cabernet Sauvignon-dominant blend.
The original estate dates back to the 14th Century and the name is likely derived from the original owners. Sources differ, referring to the Gorsse family (and possibly an abbot: L’Abbé Gorsse) or the La Bégorce family.
In either case, the property was one of the largest in the Médoc and, in keeping with many private family holdings, was seized by the state during the French Revolution. It was sold off, breaking the estate into three, creating Château Labégorce, the unusually named (and rarely encountered) Château de L’Abbé Grosse de Grosse, and Château Labégorce-Zédé (presumably from the French “ceder” – to cede).
Millionaire oil magnates, the Perrodo family bought Labégorce in 1989 and largely reunified the old estate by buying the château and part of the vineyard of L’Abbé Gorsse de Gorsse in 2002. In 2005, the family finally acquired Château Labegorce Zédé.
Although Hubert Perrodo, the man behind the initial takeovers, died in a hiking accident near Courchevel in 2006, the family, overseen by widow Ka Yee (Carrie) Wong Perrodo, continued to add to their vineyard holdings in the area. The family also owns the Margaux Third Growth Château Marquis d’Alesme and in 2019 finalized its acquisition of Château La Tour de Mons (also in Margaux)
The soil in the combined Labégorce estate is mostly sandy gravel with some more silty soils. It extends to around 70 hectares (170 acres) and is planted with around 55 percent Cabernet Sauvignon and 40 percent Merlot with the remainder Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. A proportion of the vines were planted in the 1950s.
The wines are made in a combination of cement tanks and stainless steel vats. The grand vin is aged for around 15 months in French oak barrels, around a half of which are new – although this can change from vintage to vintage.
Château Labegorce’s portfolio of wines comprises a single grand vin and a second wine, Zédé de Labegorce – a nod to the former Labégorce-Zédé property. This new second wine can be confused by some retailers with Château Labegorce Zédé, which ceased production after the 2008 vintage.
To find out more about this wine, its pricing and where to buy it go to the Wine-Searcher website: https://www.wine-searcher.com/find/labegorce+margaux+medoc+bordeaux+france/2019
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2 Comments
Fantastic review thank you! Just to give you more details about the vintage 2019…Long periods of intense heat from June to September made us adapt our growing methods and focus on removing secondary shoots (échardage) instead of deleafing. A few periods of rain in June and especially early September came at just the right time to unblock the maturation cycle. Low but regular rainfall followed, which was very beneficial as it allowed the grapes to ripen and meant the pickers could work in very good conditions. We filled the vats with something very promising offering a high level of natural extractability, and were careful to work very gently using low-temperature infusion. 2019 is a great vintage for Cabernets with magnificent, dense, generous body and precise, tasty tannins.
Wow what a interesting review, just bought some from TavershamsWineAuctions so now I know I made the right choice thank you , now I just have too get wifey too cook a worthy dinner too enjoy it with 😂😂😂