The vineyard of Château Margaux is one of four wines to achieve First Growth status in the 1855 Bordeaux Classification because of its high price. According to Forbes.com, a bottle of Château Margaux 1787 holds the record as the most expensive bottle of wine ever broken, insured at $225,000. Chateau Margaux usually consists of approximately 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 5% Petit verdot and Cabernet Franc grapes. It is one of the most expensive wines in the world costing over $1750 a bottle even whilst still in the barrel before it is released.[1]

The château lies in the commune of Margaux in the Médoc region in the département of Gironde. The vineyard is planted in gravelly terrain on the left bank of the Garonne estuary. It is in the Margaux Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée.

History

The estate has been occupied since at least the 12th century, but it was only with the arrival of the Lestonnac family in the 16th century that wine production became of particular importance, and in the 1570s Pierre de Lestonnac cleared many of the grain fields to make way for grapes. By 1700 the estate covered its present area of 265 hectares, and the 78 hectares devoted to vines has remained essentially unchanged since then.

As with most of Médoc's châteaux, the 18th century saw the wine develop from a pale watery drink that faded within only a few years, to the dark, complex liquid that has been stored in cellars ever since. At Château Margaux this transformation was largely due to a manager named Berlon, who revolutionized techniques of wine-making by introducing novel ideas such as forbidding harvesting in the early morning to avoid dew-covered grapes, and acknowledging for the first time the importance of soil quality.