The 10th anniversary of the Foster cellar at Château Margaux

Inaugurated in 2015, the Foster cellar marked a significant milestone for Château Margaux. Designed by architect Lord Norman Foster, this building blends discreetly with the estate’s historic buildings and brings together a vat room, a cellar, a R&D center, a laboratory, and a tasting room.

The 40 new stainless steel tanks (ranging from 13 to 40 hectoliters) allow us to achieve a level of precision in plot selection that was previously impossible. From the harvest onward, we can keep more individual batches of wine, instead of combining them, and therefore be even more precise in our blending choices and in expressing the unique character of each plot.

Furthermore, the ageing of our white wines, previously carried out in another cellar located 500 meters away on the estate, now takes place in the Foster cellar. This proximity to our historic vat room and cellars facilitates the monitoring and control of each stage of production, while also providing better organization and greater efficiency.

Finally, by also housing our R&D center, a tasting room, and a laboratory, this state-of-the-art building offers our teams a dedicated space for research and the improvement of our practices, from vine to bottle.

Ten years after its inauguration, the Foster cellar has contributed to reinforcing the precision of our work, allowing us to reach an optimal level of ripeness, thus enhancing the quality of our wines: both more concentrated and more supple, they are easier to drink young and have lost none of their ageing potential.

Completely modular, the building can continue to evolve to meet the estate’s needs and the technological advancements of the coming years.