Description
Château Moulin de Tricot, Margaux Grand Vin
Idolaters of Margaux, Pauillac, Saint-Éstephe—really, any Left Bank label holding court in the pantheon of elite Bordeaux collectibles—will be thrilled to have opened today’s limited offering from Château Moulin de Tricot for myriad reasons. First, I consider Tricot’s Grand Vin to be among the most perfumed, traditional, and distinctly complex Cabernet blends in the legendary village of Margaux. Second, in the face of a devout global following, this fastidiously hand-farmed estate has remained, incredulously, “micro” in scale and price. Does that sound too good to be true? Unfortunately, it soon will be, which brings me to my third and final point: As of the next vintage, this iconic 19th-century château will no longer exist.
The property has been purchased and the vines reassigned for blending into the Grand Vin of a larger, big-ticket château that will most assuredly charge more. So yes, there is extreme urgency and finiteness attached to today’s offer. Having followed these wines for many years, it’s a bittersweet moment for us, sugarcoated only by the fact that today’s 2018 release is the most savory, refreshingly classic, terroir-packed Margaux I’ve tasted from them in many moons. Whenever you open this bottle, be it now or in 10-20 years, I guarantee your small investment will be handsomely rewarded as you reflect on the golden age of Moulin de Tricot.
Up until 2020, Chateâu Moulin de Tricot was one of the last small family properties producing traditional, hand-made examples of Margaux. Established in the 1800s, this family only bottles one wine from the appellation. No reserve bottlings, no second labels, no purchased fruit, and no BS. The current generation of vignerons, Bruno and Pascale Rey, farm a 3.7-hectare parcel of Cabernet Sauvignon (75%) and Merlot (25%) planted on Margaux’s sandy-gravel soils.
Bruno and Pascale’s ancestors have been planting and replanting this same vineyard since the mid-1800s, with the current average vine age hovering around 40 years old. All fruit is organically grown and harvested manually. Fruit is hand-sorted and de-stemmed before fermentation in stainless steel tanks. After the juice is pressed off the skins, it is returned to the same tanks to undergo spontaneous malolactic fermentation. Finally, the wine is racked into a collection of French oak barriques (at least once-used) where it ages 18 months until an unfiltered bottling. In general, the process takes several years between harvest and the release of a mere 300 cases to North America.
I first want to stress that this wine has extraordinary cellaring potential. The older bottles of Moulin de Tricot Margaux I’ve enjoyed have been stunning, with an extra dose of mystique and aromatic complexity. So, before anything, I want to make it clear that this wine—like all top Bordeaux reds—will undoubtedly reward those wise enough to set aside a few bottles in the back corner of their cellar.
Still, one cannot ignore the immediate pleasure it’s currently providing. Chateâu Moulin de Tricot’s 2018 Margaux—in spite of a vintage that brought superb concentration—has crafted a shockingly elegant, ultra-savory Cabernet blend. After 30 minutes of air, serve in Bordeaux stems at 60 degrees to unlock a dazzling array of redcurrants, black cherries, ripe plums, tobacco leaf, green peppercorn, rose petal, wet cedar, and pipe tobacco. Again, this is a classic, restrained, gorgeously finessed Margaux, not the brooding, extracted, heavy-set kind you certainly find in these high-scoring blockbuster vintages. It’ll stun for 5, 10, 20+ years if stored properly. Buy as many as you can muster to keep the Moulin de Tricot name alive!
