R&D: Experimental vinifications to improve our practices

In the experimental winery, Château Margaux’s R&D department has all the necessary equipment to conduct trials independently, from the initial vatting of the grapes to the final bottling of the wines. Using twenty 1-hl tanks, Blandine de Rouffignac and her team carry out experimental vinifications, enabling them to test various practices and study their impact on the wines.

For the 2026 harvest, several trials were launched to extend experiments conducted in the vineyards, focusing notably on the following areas:

- Adaptation to climate change, involving the cultivation of different grape varieties to identify those best suited to climate change

- Protection of grapes against sunburn, using practices such as early leaf removal or shade netting

- Biodynamic viticulture compared to organic viticulture, to study the effects of both approaches on the vines and the resulting wines

- Ungrafted versus grafted vines, to compare grape and wine quality

- Vineyard irrigation, comparing grapes from irrigated and non-irrigated vines during a vintage marked by significant water and heat stress

For each of these trials, the grapes are vinified in two separate tanks under identical conditions. This ensures the reliability of results and confirms that any observed differences are indeed due to the practices under study.

Throughout the vinification process, each tank is closely monitored through regular observations and analyses. After bottling, the wines are aged for several years and tasted during dedicated sessions in order to identify the most relevant approaches and contribute to continually improving the precision and quality of the wines.