Initial de Desmirail, Margaux, Château Desmirail 2021
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Why this wine
The second wine of a Margaux Third Growth, made from younger vines on the same Cantenac gravel and in the same house style. Silk rather than muscle, which is what Margaux is for. A classified-estate address without the classified-estate outlay.
At a glance
- Grape
- Merlot 55%, Cabernet Sauvignon 43%, Petit Verdot 2%
- Region
- Bordeaux, France
- Alcohol
- 12.50%
- Body
- Medium
- Acidity
- Medium
- Tannins
- Medium
- Sweetness
- Dry
- Drink
- Short (3-5 yrs)
- Pairs with
- Red Meat, Poultry & Pork, Cheese
How it tastes
Blackcurrant, black cherry and forest fruit, with cedar, toast and a dusting of cinnamon behind them. Medium-bodied and silky, the acidity fresh and the tannins fine, carrying to a long, balanced finish. Merlot 55%, Cabernet Sauvignon 43%, Petit Verdot 2%.
The producer
Château Desmirail is a Third Growth in the 1855 classification, sitting in the commune of Cantenac at the heart of Margaux alongside Château Palmer and Cantenac Brown. Denis Lurton took the property over from his father Lucien in 1992 and farms 37 hectares on the free-draining gravel that gives Margaux its finesse. Vines are double Guyot trained and green harvested to concentrate the remaining fruit, then picked by hand at full maturity. Initial is the second wine, drawn in part from younger vines: each parcel was fermented separately, with pump-overs and maceration length tailored tank by tank, blended at the end of winter and matured twelve months in oak barriques.
Food and drinking
Serve at 16–18°C. Good with roast lamb, steak with peppercorn sauce, duck breast, or a board of hard cheeses. Drinking well now and over the next five to eight years; an hour in a decanter helps. Sealed with a Twintop cork rather than natural cork.