Description
Château Moulin de Tricot, Margaux Grand Vin
Less than a year ago, we offered the 2018 Moulin de Tricot with a warning that the next vintage would be the last—but it’s still bittersweet to have finally reached the end. 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.
This tiny estate was always a glowing beacon of tradition, giving the proverbial middle finger to the glitz and glam of surrounding châteaux as one of the last small family properties producing doggedly old-school, 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.
[**NOTE: The Reys also produce a wine from several parcels that lie outside of the Margaux appellation. Their Haut-Médoc is treated with all the same care and attention to tradition but is aged for just one year in neutral barrels and they make a bit more so the pricing is very attractive. This is the perfect wine to enjoy over the next few years while you wait for the Margaux to blossom. Grab some here!]
If there’s any silver lining here it is that the 2019 vintage is a smashing success. Bruno and Pascale were fortunate enough to make their last vintage a true blockbuster. The 2019 has plenty of power and richness, but it is also superbly balanced by a refined tannic structure and the type of crunchy acidity that is sorely lacking in many of the more modern productions of the Reys’ neighbors. Their decades of experience and deft hand in the cellar allows the natural brilliance of the ‘19 growing season to shine through. It’s a masterful effort, akin to hitting a grand slam in your final at bat.
Make no mistake, like all world class red wine the 2019 Moulin de Tricot is meant to sleep in the cellar. But if you do decide to crack one open in the next year or so you will not be disappointed. Just give it a good decant and all the goods of a true Margaux start to emerge. Red and black currants, sweet cherries, cedar, tobacco leaf and hints of wild roses are layered together over a core of classic, savory minerality that is always the secret ingredient of this famous, gravelly terroir. Those that can should grab at least a case of this stupendous final effort, knowing that every time you open a bottle you will be drinking liquid history and raising a glass to a bygone era.
