Pavillon Blanc du Château Margaux
The white grape harvests took place from the 23rd to the 30th of August. High temperatures in the last ten days of August meant that we had to pick the grapes earlier to retain all their potential acidity, which is so important in white wines. We even had to bring forward the picking times, starting in the early hours of the morning and finishing at midday.
We were determined to retain the intensity and aromatic complexity that characterise our white wines... and save the pickers from working in the excessive heat.
We selected the best from our Virefougasse plots, enabling us to create a blend with complex flavours and aromas, and a well-rounded palate. Plot selections were even more rigorous in the vineyard. The grapes harvested from almost ten hectares were vinified in around twenty different batches. The trials undertaken over several years to create the second white wine, the Pavillon Blanc Second Vin, and its launch with the 2022 vintage have enabled Pavillon Blanc to be even more precise.
Margaux
Climate
The winter of 2022-2023 was relatively mild, although there were about ten days of real winter temperatures in the first half of February.
There was also not much rain during the first few months of 2023: 196 mm in Margaux, allowing only a very light replenishment of groundwater reserves after an extremely hot, dry 2022 vintage. In these conditions, bud break occurred between the 3rd and the 10th of April.
Fortunately, spring did not bring any of the feared frosts. Rain was sparse but frequent during the growing season. There were just two weeks of sustained rain in June (72 mm). However, these conditions made it potentially difficult to keep the vines healthy. The high relative humidity in the air created very favourable conditions for downy mildew. Our vineyard teams succeeded in main¬taining healthy foliage to ensure good-quality ripening of the grapes and a successful harvest.
The vines flowered between the 31st of May and the 5th of June in good conditions, with no signs of coulure or millerandage.
2023 was markedly different from the previous vintage in terms of temperature. In 2022, there were very early heatwaves. In 2023, we had just one real heatwave, between the 17th and the 24th of August, the period when the grape skins mature, becoming thinner and more sensitive to the com-bined action of high temperatures and sunshine. The berries that were most exposed to the sun suffered scalding, forcing us to do a lot of sorting during the harvest.